Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee

Recommendation 4

Sixth Report - Follow-up on the IMMDS report and the Government’s response Published 20 Jan 2023 Paragraph 30 Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Although the Government has also given itself the powers to set up a register of industry payments to clinicians, no decision has been made yet about how to implement it, and officials were not able to share a plan of when the register would be active. A register would provide transparency and reassurance, and we urge the Government to move at pace to bring in the necessary secondary legislation to set this up.

From: Health and Social Care Committee, Sixth Report - Follow-up on the IMMDS report and the Government’s response (HC 689), paragraph 30, 20 January 2023

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 24 April 2023 (deadline 20 March 2023).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the Committee's report and sets out progress on its IMMDS commitments, but says it does "not believe it is necessary to create a new agency for redress".

  • On records of devices, NHS England has begun developing a new 'Medical Device Outcome Registry', with the platform set for launch in April 2023 and work with Devolved Governments on a UK-wide approach "where appropriate to do so".
  • On the register of clinicians' interests, the Government "expect[s] the implementation phase to begin in England in April 2023", with a lead-in of approximately 18 months before the CQC begins monitoring publications.
  • On industry payments, it aims to launch a six-week public consultation in Spring 2023 on the potential to introduce regulations mandating reporting; any regulations would follow that consultation.
  • On redress, a specification has been shared with the Patient Safety Commissioner; the work is "expected to take around four months", after which the Department "will need to consider its findings".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error