Thirlwall report: an apology and a barring scheme
Written on the evening of 15 September and held by the self-check, because the day's news carried the Thirlwall Inquiry report and the Prime Minister's bereavement. Every audit of the draft itself had passed. Published on 16 September, with one sentence brought closer to the wording of the speech it cites.
- Real UK: Yvette Cooper apologised to the 13 Countess of Chester families after the Thirlwall report and promised a barring scheme for senior NHS managers.
- Parallel UK: My government put the same barring scheme on its bill list, dated 6 October and costed at £4m a year.
- The argument: A barring scheme needs a date in the Commons diary, not "parliamentary time".
- Health Secretary Yvette Cooper apologised to the 13 families in a Commons statement published on GOV.UK. The Thirlwall report concludes some babies would have been saved if action had been taken earlier. Cooper said the government will legislate "as soon as parliamentary time allows" for a barring scheme covering senior NHS managers as well as clinicians.
- First Secretary Louise Haigh told the TUC the government will strengthen the right to flexible working, in a speech published on GOV.UK. She opened by telling Congress that the Prime Minister's father, Roy, had died on Sunday night.
My condolences to the Prime Minister and his family.
A register that can only strike off a nurse leaves untouched the managers who decided not to refer. The report describes a failure at all levels to invoke safeguarding, so the scheme has to reach all levels.
I would name the bill, its Commons date and its cost tonight. An undated promise is the kind most easily lost to a new minister or a crowded session.
Health — I repeat the apology to the families. An NHS Senior Managers' Barring Bill joins the autumn Session Ledger as its eleventh bill, with first Commons reading on Tuesday 6 October. It costs £4m a year, charged to tomorrow's Budget.
Machinery — Two items go to tomorrow's Budget vote unfunded: £310m for the winter guarantee and £0.6bn of extra debt interest.
quiet; the report was read in full before anyone mentioned the Budget.
Next dispatch: tomorrow 6pm — the parallel Budget.