BRIS-40

Ensure independent Councils report to DoH and Parliament with DoH oversight

Bristol Heart Inquiry · Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report · Issued 18 July 2001

Government responseNot tracked (historical inquiry)

DeliveryDHSC and NHS England state no delivery position (Feb 2026)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The two Councils should be independent of government and report both to the DoH and to Parliament. There should be close collaboration between the two Councils. The DoH should establish and fund the Councils and set their strategic framework, and thereafter periodically review them.

Bristol Heart Inquiry, Bristol Heart Inquiry — Final Report · 18 Jul 2001 Source PDF →

Government response

●No formal government response recorded

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

Delivery

●DHSC and NHS England state no delivery position · 27 Feb 2026

Please see our response to recommendation 39 (Regulatory Landscape).

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025)

Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Superseded”. Table row: section 6.2 No. 40, PDF page 90-91.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024

The Government agreed with this recommendation in principle.

In its January 2002 report, the Department of Health said it would establish a fund a new administrative Council for Quality of Health Care in 2002 to ensure coordination between the Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals and other organisations with an interest in service quality. This was to be at arm’s length from the Department of Health rather than independent. The Council for the Regulation of Health Care Professionals would be independent and report to Parliament.

The Health Professionals Council was subsequently set up in 2003, under the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024)

Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 6.2 No. 40, PDF page 86.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.