STF NA MÍDIA

pendent police chiefs to account,
but it is our duty.
Not so long ago, Mr West
conceded that the police service
"has a professional arrogance,
saying we know what
s best for you". I would not
have said this, but I concur
with the words he used next:
"It is incumbent on us as
public servants to engage
with [the public] and to listen
to what their concerns are
and respond accordingly."
Indeed it is.
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •
THE GUARDIAN (LO) • NEWS • 20/9/2011
Health bill changes in Lords will be accepted, says Lib Dem minister
Paul Burstow admits peers will improve bill next month as Baroness Williams warns of
holding it up with amendments
Nicholas Watt
The government is to accept
further changes to its health
plans after Lady Williams,
the veteran Liberal Democrat,
warned that peers are
prepared to hold up the health
and social care bill in the
House of Lords.
As a leading Lib Dem rebel
in the Commons condemned
the bill as a "huge strategic
mistake", the health minister
Paul Burstow admitted that
peers would improve the bill
next month.
Peers are to consider the bill
after more than 1,000 a-
mendments were rushed
through the House of Commons
earlier this month in
the wake of the government s
"listening exercise".
Burstow, the Lib Dem health
minister, said the government
was still open to change.
"We didn t stop listening
when the listening exercise
ended," he told the Lib Dem
conference in a question and
answer session on health.
"We haven t stopped reflecting
on the concerns that colleagues
have. We haven t
stopped making changes
where we think they are necessary.
I have never known
a bill in my 14 years in parliament
that has gone to the
House of Lords and come
back exactly as it was when
it left the House of Commons.
The House of Lords
revises, it improves, it challenges
and that is what it will
do with the health and social
care bill. That is exactly what
it should do."
Burstow s remarks came after
Williams outlined her
demands:
• Get rid of the "so-called
autonomy clause" which says
the secretary of state may not
affect the autonomy of the
health bodies who now have
the main responsibility in the
reformed NHS – Monitor and
the commissioning board.
• The secretary of state must
retain the residual responsibility
for securing the provision
of a comprehensive health
service to all people in this
country.
Williams said: "If we can get
those two as well then we
can live reasonably comfortably
with the proposals that
are before us."
But Williams said peers
could make trouble if ministers
fail to take notice. "There
is now a huge responsibility
on the House of Lords to
go through and scrutinise the
bill in vast detail. And they
will.
"We reckon there is going to
be something like 10 or 12
days on the committee. That
means there will be detailed
scrutiny. I promise you a lot
of the Lords will want to ask
questions on almost every
aspect of the bill. As well as
having time it [the House of
Lords] can determine its own
time which isn t true of the
House of Commons … The
whips are much more powerful
in the Commons than
they are in the Lords. So the
relatively easy passage that
the bill had – and I regret this
– through its second reading
in the Commons will not be
duplicated in the Lords without
some substantial further
concession."
Burstow praised Williams.
But he said that her concerns
about the role of the secretary
of state had been addressed
in the bill.
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