This House of Lords Library briefing provides information in support of the House of Lords consideration of the Regulation of Health and Social Care Professions Etc Bill [HL] 2016-17 on 3 February 2017.
Regulation of Health and Social Care Professions Etc Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages (133 KB , PDF)
The Regulation of Health and Social Care Professions Etc Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour). The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 26 May 2016, and is scheduled to have its second reading on 3 February 2017. The Bill would require the Government to bring forward legislation giving effect to the recommendations of the Law Commission, Scottish Law Commission and Northern Ireland Law Commission in their report Regulation of Health Care Professionals: Regulation of Social Care Professionals in England, April 2014, Cm 8839. The report included a draft bill to reform the legal framework around the regulation of health care professionals. The legislation would have to be introduced within three months of the day on which the Act is passed. Clause 1(2) of the Bill would require the Secretary of State to confirm that in their view the introduced bill is substantially based on the draft bill prepared by the Law Commissions. Lord Hunt introduced a bill of the same name in the 2015–16 session.
Regulation of Health and Social Care Professions Etc Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages (133 KB , PDF)
In 2024, the House of Lords established a committee to consider the prevention and consequences of preterm birth in England. This briefing provides a summary of the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee findings, reactions to its report, and the government’s response, ahead of a debate in the House of Lords on 6 June 2025.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
In England, the NHS provides prosthetics where suitable for people who have had a limb amputation. However, concerns have been raised about how quickly individuals can access multifunctional limbs. Also, while high-performance sports prosthetics are available for children, some campaigners are calling for adults to be able to access them from the NHS.
