Mary Henry (Independent)

I am also interested to hear it. The Minister may be aware of the considerable concern among the postgraduate training bodies as to what exactly this means. The board could have significant power over what facilities will be available for training. Professional competence is increasingly important in all parts of the health service, and I am not just talking about medical or nursing students at undergraduate level but also at postgraduate level where we want professional competence maintained. This section seems to allow the board significant power over the training bodies, which have done a good job and worked extraordinarily hard in recent years to make sure that medical professionals received proper training within, for example, hospitals, general practices and the public health service. It appears they will all be subordinate to this board, which has caused considerable concern.