I beg to move, That the new clause be read a Second time.
It is terribly important to use opportunities of this kind to discuss matters of such importance properly on the Floor of the House. It does not mean that we always have the right answers—sometimes, we do not even have the right questions—but there are some really important issues that need to be given an airing so that people outside can hear the nature of the discussion, rather than having that discussion held by an agency on its own account or, alternatively, by the civil service and then put forward in a Government brief.
Basically, this is a new proposal that deals with doctors’ language skills. There are many people in this country who believe that this is an important issue. It is pretty obvious that ensuring that doctors have appropriate language skills is rather important, especially given what happened in a particular case. I do not remember the names of the individuals concerned, but I seem to recall that the case involved a father who died after being treated by somebody from Germany. It seemed to be pretty likely, if not certain, that the reasons that happened were to do with a lack of proper language skills and proper experience of the medical practices in this country. The doctor was effectively coming here as a locum without appropriate qualifications or sufficient skills to be able to give the kind of treatment that was needed, and the result was a tragedy. Other Members of Parliament may have other such examples.
This is a very important issue. Indeed in April last year, the Medical Act 1983 was amended to strengthen the arrangements to ensure that all doctors have sufficient knowledge of English before being able to work in the UK. My new clause would help to ensure that all doctors were able to communicate effectively with colleagues and patients, which would sufficiently reduce the risk to patient safety caused by a lack of understanding of the English language that could result in the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of conditions. Many people regard that as common sense.