Vital Signs: Medical ethics & regulation

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers press for faster GMC action on misconduct and tighter oversight of maternity, surrogacy and funeral services

1. 01The adequacy of GMC disciplinary action was challenged directly in Topical Questions on 14 July 2026, when Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour, Calder Valley) told the House that his FOI requests found only 6 per cent of doctors accused of rape were suspended or erased from the register. Minister Preet Kaur Gill (Labour, Birmingham Edgbaston) responded that the Government is consulting on proposals to give the GMC a duty to remove registrants convicted of murder, rape and many other sexual offences without a full fitness-to-practise process.
2. 02During the Health Bill committee stage on 16 July 2026, Caroline Johnson (Conservative, Sleaford and North Hykeham) pressed the Government to explain why the Bill did not include statutory regulation of NHS managers, noting that doctors are regulated by the GMC and nurses by the NMC but that managers face no equivalent register. Minister Karin Smyth (Labour, Bristol South) argued in the same sitting that existing GMC obligations already embed a mandatory whistleblowing requirement for medical examiners and a professional duty of candour, and that proposed new clauses would duplicate those requirements.
3. 03In the Baby Loss Awareness Week debate on 12 October 2026, Michelle Welsh (Labour, Sherwood Forest) said that families affected by maternity failures are still fighting for answers and that the system must now carry the responsibility for change, while Andy MacNae (Labour, Rossendale and Darwen) called for a statutory, independently funded national maternity commissioner with the power to challenge regulators including the CQC and GMC where improvement has stalled.
4. 04Regulation of funeral directors was raised during Health Bill report stage on 7 September 2026, when Caroline Dinenage (Conservative, Gosport) argued that new clause 41 would require the Secretary of State within six months to extend the Human Tissue Authority's remit to funeral directors, private mortuaries and direct cremation services, criticising Government plans to publish proposals only 'in due course' as leaving grieving families waiting indefinitely.
5. 05Surrogacy regulation featured in two separate debates: in the Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood Westminster Hall debate on 7 September 2026, Phil Brickell (Labour, Bolton West) asked the Government to remove a named surrogacy company from gov.uk pending a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority review, while Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative, Solihull West and Shirley), a former HFEA appeals panel member, urged the House to weigh the interests of the child alongside those of intended parents.