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2003 No. 3060

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, ENGLAND

The NHS Professionals Special Health Authority Regulations 2003

  Made 26th November 2003 
  Laid before Parliament 4th December 2003 
  Coming into force 1st January 2004 

The Secretary of State for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 16(4) and 126(4) of, and paragraphs 10, 12 and 16 of Schedule 5 to, the National Health Service Act 1977[1], and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement, application and interpretation
     1.  - (1) These Regulations may be cited as the NHS Professionals Special Health Authority Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 1st January 2004.

    (2) These Regulations apply to England only.

    (3) In these Regulations - 

Appointment and tenure of office of chairman and members
     2.  - (1) The chairman and non-officer members shall be appointed by the Secretary of State.

    (2) Subject to regulation 5 (termination of tenure of office of chairman and non-officer members), the term of office of the chairman and non-officer members shall be such period, not exceeding 4 years, as the Secretary of State shall specify on making the appointment.

    (3) Subject to regulation 3 (disqualification for appointment), the chairman and any non-officer member shall, on the termination of his office, be eligible for re-appointment.

    (4) The chairman and non-officer members shall appoint the members who are officers of the Authority.

Disqualification for appointment
    
3.  - (1) Subject to regulation 4 (cessation of disqualification), a person shall be disqualified for appointment as the chairman or as a non-officer member if - 

    (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), the date of conviction shall be deemed to be the date on which the ordinary period allowed for making an appeal or application with respect to the conviction expires or, if such an appeal or application is made, the date on which the appeal or application is finally disposed of or abandoned or fails by reason of its not being prosecuted.

    (3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), a person shall not be treated as having been in paid employment by reason only of his having been the chairman or a member of, or in the case of an NHS trust, a member of the board of directors of, the health service body in question.

Cessation of disqualification
     4.  - (1) Where a person is disqualified under regulation 3(1)(b)(i) by reason of having been adjudged bankrupt or having had a sequestration of his estate awarded - 

    (2) Where a person is disqualified under regulation 3(1)(b)(ii) by reason of his having made a composition or arrangement with, or having granted a trust deed for, his creditors - 

    (3) Subject to paragraph (4), where a person is disqualified under regulation 3(1)(c) he may, after the expiry of two years beginning on the date on which he was dismissed, apply in writing to the Secretary of State to remove the disqualification, and the Secretary of State may direct that the disqualification shall cease.

    (4) Where the Secretary of State refuses an application to remove a disqualification no further application may be made by that person until the expiry of the period of two years beginning with the date of the application and this paragraph shall apply to any subsequent application.

    (5) Where a person is disqualified under regulation 3(1)(d), the disqualification shall cease on the expiry of the period of two years beginning on the date of the termination of his tenure of office or such longer period as the Secretary of State specifies when terminating his period of office but the Secretary of State may, on application being made to him by that person, reduce the period of disqualification.

Termination of tenure of office of chairman and non-officer members
    
5.  - (1) The chairman or a non-officer member may resign from his office at any time during the term of his office by giving notice in writing to the Secretary of State.

    (2) Where the Secretary of State is of the opinion that it is not in the interests of, or conducive to the good management of, the Authority or of the health service that the chairman or a non-officer member should continue to hold office, he may forthwith terminate his tenure of office by giving him notice in writing to that effect.

    (3) If the chairman or a non-officer member fails to attend three successive meetings of the Authority the Secretary of State shall forthwith terminate that person's tenure of office unless satisfied that - 

    (4) Where a person has been appointed to be the chairman or a non-officer member, and - 

and upon receipt of any such notification, his tenure of office, if any, shall be terminated and he shall cease to act as chairman or non-officer member.

    (5) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the chairman or a non-officer member has failed to comply with regulation 10 (disability of chairman and members in proceedings on account of pecuniary interest) he may forthwith terminate that person's tenure of office by giving him notice in writing to that effect.

Appointment of vice-chairman
    
6.  - (1) The chairman and members may appoint one of the non-officer members to be vice-chairman for such period, not exceeding the remainder of his term as a member, as they may specify on appointing him.

    (2) Any member so appointed may at any time resign from the office of vice-chairman by giving notice in writing to the chairman.

    (3) Where the chairman has died or has ceased to hold office, or where he is unable to perform his duties as chairman owing to illness, absence or any other cause, references to the chairman in the Schedule to these Regulations shall, so long as there is no chairman available to perform his duties, be taken to include references to the vice-chairman.

Appointment of committees and sub-committees
    
7.  - (1) Subject to such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State, the Authority may, and if so directed by him, shall, appoint committees of the Authority consisting wholly or partly of members of the Authority or wholly of persons who are not members of the Authority.

    (2) A committee appointed under this regulation may, subject to such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State or the Authority, appoint sub-committees consisting wholly or partly of members of the committee (whether or not they are members of the Authority) or wholly of persons who are not members of the Authority or the committee.

    (3) Regulations 3 and 4 apply to the appointment of members of committees and sub-committees appointed under this regulation as they apply to the appointment of members of the Authority.

Arrangements for the exercise of functions
    
8. Subject to such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State, the Authority may make arrangements for the exercise, on behalf of the Authority, of any of its functions by a committee or sub-committee appointed by virtue of regulation 7 or by an officer of the Authority, in each case subject to such restrictions and conditions as the Authority thinks fit.

Meetings and proceedings
    
9.  - (1) The meetings and proceedings of the Authority shall be conducted in accordance with the rules set out in the Schedule to these Regulations and with Standing Orders made under paragraph (2).

    (2) Subject to those rules, to regulation 10 (disability of chairman and members in proceedings on account of pecuniary interest) and to such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State, the Authority shall make, and may vary or revoke, Standing Orders for the regulation of its proceedings and business, including provision for the suspension of the Standing Orders or any of them.

    (3) Subject to such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State, the Authority may make, vary and revoke Standing Orders relating to the quorum, proceedings and place of meeting of any committee or sub-committee of the Authority; but subject to such Standing Orders, the quorum, proceedings and place of meeting shall be such as the committee or sub-committee may determine.

Disability of chairman and members in proceedings on account of pecuniary interest
    
10.  - (1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, if the chairman or a member has any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any contract, proposed contract or other matter and is present at any meeting of the Authority to which the contract, proposed contract or other matter is the subject of consideration, he shall at the meeting and as soon as practicable after its commencement, disclose his interest and shall not take part in the consideration or discussion of the contract, proposed contract or other matter or vote on any question with respect to it.

    (2) The Secretary of State may, subject to such conditions as he may think fit to impose, remove any disability imposed by this regulation in any case in which it appears to him in the interests of the health service that the disability should be removed.

    (3) The Authority may, by Standing Orders made under regulation 9(2), provide for the exclusion of the chairman or a member from a meeting of the Authority while any contract, proposed contract, or other matter in which he has a pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, is under consideration.

    (4) Any remuneration, compensation or allowances payable to the chairman or a member by virtue of paragraph 9 to Schedule 5 of the Act (pay and allowances) shall not be treated as a pecuniary interest for the purpose of this regulation.

    (5) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (6), the chairman or member shall be treated for the purpose of this regulation as having an indirect pecuniary interest in a contract, proposed contract or other matter if - 

and in the case of two persons living together as a couple (whether married or not) the interest of one shall, if known to the other, be deemed for the purpose of this regulation to be also an interest of the other.

    (6) Neither the chairman nor a member shall be treated as having a pecuniary interest in any contract, proposed contract or other matter by reason only - 

    (7) Where the chairman or a member - 

this regulation shall not prohibit him from taking part in the consideration or discussion of the contract, proposed contract or other matter, or from voting on any question with respect to it without prejudice however to his duty to disclose his interest.

    (8) This regulation applies to a committee or sub-committee as it applies to the Authority and applies to a member of any such committee or sub-committee (whether or not he is also a member of the Authority) as it applies to a member of the Authority.

    (9) In this regulation - 

Reports by the Authority
     11. The Authority shall make such reports to the Secretary of State in such manner and at such time as the Secretary of State may direct, and shall furnish to the Secretary of State such information as he may from time to time require.

Public meeting
    
12. If, in pursuance of regulation 11, the Secretary of State directs the Authority to make an annual report to him for any particular year or for each year, it shall present the report at a public meeting held not later than 30 days after the date on which the report was made.



Signed by authority of the Secretary of State


John Hutton
Minister of State, Department of Health

26th November 2003



SCHEDULE
Regulation 9(1)


RULES AS TO MEETINGS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AUTHORITY


     1. The first meeting of the Authority shall be held on such day and at such place as may be fixed by the chairman, and he shall be responsible for convening the meeting.

     2.  - (1) The chairman may call a meeting of the Authority at any time.

    (2) If a requisition for a meeting, signed by at least one third of the total number of members, is presented to the chairman, and the chairman either - 

those members may forthwith call a meeting.

    (3) Before each meeting of the Authority, a notice of the meeting which - 

shall be delivered to each member, or sent by post to his last known address, at least seven clear days before the day of the meeting.

    (4) The proceedings of any meeting shall not be invalidated by a failure to deliver such notice to any member.

    (5) In the case of a meeting called under sub-paragraph (2) above by members, the notice shall be signed by those members and no business other than that specified in the notice shall be transacted at the meeting.

     3.  - (1) At any meeting of the Authority the chairman or, in his absence, the vice-chairman (if there is one and he is present) shall preside.

    (2) If the chairman and any vice-chairman are absent, such other non-officer member present as the other members present shall choose for the purpose shall preside.

     4. Every question at a meeting shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and competent to vote on the question and, in the case of an equality of votes, the chairman or, in his absence, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

     5.  - (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, no business shall be transacted at any meeting unless at least one third of the membership (the chairman being included for this purpose in the reckoning) is present.

    (2) The chairman and at least two non-officer members shall be present at a meeting of the Authority at which the Chief Executive or any other officer member is appointed.

     6.  - (1) The minutes of the proceedings of a meeting shall be drawn up and shall be signed at the next meeting by the person presiding at that next meeting.

    (2) The names of the members present at a meeting shall be recorded in the minutes.



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)


These Regulations make provision concerning the membership and procedure of the NHS Professionals Special Health Authority ("the Authority") established under the National Health Service Act 1977 by the NHS Professionals Special Health Authority (Establishment and Constitution) Order 2003.

In particular, these Regulations provide for the appointment and tenure of office of the chairman and members of the Authority (regulation 2), for disqualification for appointment (regulations 3 and 4) and for the termination of office (regulation 5). Also included is provision relating to the appointment of a vice-chairman (regulation 6), the appointment of, and exercise of functions by, committees and sub-committees (regulations 7 and 8), the conduct of proceedings (regulation 9 and the Schedule) and disability on account of a conflict of interest (regulation 10).

Provision is also made for requiring the Authority to furnish reports and certain other information to the Secretary of State (regulation 11) and for requiring presentation of an annual report at a public meeting (regulation 12).


Notes:

[1] 1977 c. 49; section 16 was substituted by section 65 of, and paragraphs 4 and 9 of Schedule 4 to, the Health Act 1999 (c. 8) ("the 1999 Act") and amended by sections 1(3) and 6(2) of, and paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 1 and paragraphs 4 and 5 of Schedule 5 to, the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 (c. 17) ("the 2002 Act"); section 126(4) was amended by section 65(2) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c. 19) ("the 1990 Act"), section 65(1) of, and paragraphs 4 and 37(1) and (6) of Schedule 4 to, the 1999 Act, section 67(1) of, and paragraphs 5(1) and (13)(b) of Schedule 5 to, the Health and Social Care Act 2001 (c. 15) ("the 2001 Act") and sections 6(3)(c) and 37(1) of, and paragraphs 1 and 10(a) of Schedule 8 to, the 2002 Act; paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 was amended by sections 14 and 15 of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to, the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 (c. 41) ("the 1983 Act"), section 54(1) of, and paragraphs 8 and 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Dentists Act 1984 (c. 24), sections 5 and 24 of, and paragraph 14 of Schedule 3 and Part 1 of Schedule 8 to, the Health and Social Security Act 1984 (c. 48) ("the 1984 Act"), article 7 of S.I. 1985/39, section 1 of, and paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to, the 1990 Act, sections 2(1) and 5(1) of, and paragraph 60(c) of Schedule 1 and Schedule 3 to, the Health Authorities Act 1995 (c. 17) ("the 1995 Act"), section 65 of, and paragraphs 4, 39(1) and (3) of Schedule 4 and Schedule 5 to, the 1999 Act and section 6 of the 2001 Act; paragraph 12 of Schedule 5 was amended by article 7 of S.I. 1985/39, section 1 of, and paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 to, the 1990 Act, sections 2(1) and 5(1) of, and paragraph 60(e) of Schedule 1 and Schedule 3 to, the 1995 Act and section 65(1) of, and paragraphs 4, 39(1) and (4) of Schedule 4 to, the 1999 Act. See section 128(1), as amended by section 26(2)(g) and (i) of the 1990 Act, for the definitions of "prescribed" and "regulations". The functions of the Secretary of State under these provisions are, so far as exercisable in relation to Wales, transferred to the National Assembly for Wales by article 2(a) of the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999, S.I. 1999/672, as amended by section 66(5) of the 1999 Act.back

[2] S.I. 2003/3059.back

[3] See section 8 of the National Health Service Act 1977 (c. 49) ("the 1977 Act").back

[4] See section 11 of the 1977 Act.back

[5] See section 16A of the 1977 Act.back

[6] See section 5 of the 1990 Act.back

[7] See section 16BA of the 1977 Act.back

[8] 1978 c. 49.back

[9] Section 29 was extended by section 17 of the Health and Medicines Act 1988 (c. 49) ("the 1988 Act") and amended by sections 1 and 7 of, and paragraph 42(b) of Schedule 1 to, the Health Services Act 1980 (c. 53) ("the 1980 Act"), section 14 of, and paragraph 2(1) and (2) of Schedule 6 to, the 1983 Act, section 56(1) of, and paragraph 16(a) of Schedule 5 to, the Medical Act 1983 (c. 54), article 7 of S.I. 1985/39, section 2(1) of, and paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 and paragraph 16(a) of Schedule 5 to, the 1995 Act, section 4 of, and paragraph 28(b) of Schedule 1 to, the Medical (Professional Performance) Act 1995 (c. 51), section 41(10) and (12) of, and paragraph 8 of Schedule 2 and Part 1 of Schedule 3 to, the National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997 (c. 46) ("the 1997 Act"), sections 17 and 67(2) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 6 to, the 2001 Act and sections 2(5) and 37(1) of, and paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 2 and paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 8 to, the 2002 Act; section 36 was extended by section 17 of the 1988 Act and amended by article 3(3)(a) of S.I. 1981/432, section 5(4) of, and paragraph 5 of Schedule 3 to, the 1984 Act, article 7(10) of S.I. 1985/39, section 25 of, and paragraph 4 of Schedule 2 to, the 1988 Act, section 24(2) and (3) of the 1990 Act, section 2(1) of, and paragraph 25 of Schedule 1 to, the 1995 Act, section 41(10) and (12) of, and paragraph 12 of Schedule 2 and Part 1 of Schedule 3 to, the 1997 Act, section 9(3) of the 1999 Act, sections 20(1) and (4) and 22(1) and (3) of the 2001 Act and section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 10 of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act; section 36(4)-(8) was inserted by section 20(1) and (4)(c) of the 2001 Act; section 39 was extended by section 17 of the 1988 Act and amended by sections 1 and 2 of, and paragraph 52 of Schedule 1 to, the 1980 Act, section 1 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 and Part 1 of Schedule 8 to, the 1984 Act, article 7(12) of S.I. 1985/39, paragraph 28 of Schedule 1 to the 1995 Act, section 9(4) of the 1999 Act, sections 20(1) and (5) and 23(4) of the 2001 Act and section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 12 of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act; section 42 was substituted by section 3(1) of the National Health Service (Amendment) Act 1986 (c. 66), extended by section 17 of the 1988 Act and amended by article 4 of S.I. 1987/2202, section 12(3) of the 1990 Act, section 2(1) of, and paragraph 30 of Schedule 1 to, the 1995 Act, sections 20(1) and (6), 43(2), (3) and (4) and 67(2) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 6 to, the 2001 Act, section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 16 of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act; section 43 was amended by section 21(2) of the 1980 Act, section 66(1) of, and paragraph 18(2) of Schedule 9 to, the 1990 Act, section 2(1) of, and paragraph 31 of Schedule 1 to, the 1995 Act, sections 29(1) and 41(10) of, and paragraph 14 of Schedule 2 to, the 1997 Act, section 42(2) of the 2001 Act, section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 17(1), (2) and (3) of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act.back

[10] Section 43D was inserted by section 24 of the 2001 Act and amended by section 2(5) of, and paragraph 20 of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act.back

[11] Section 49N was inserted by section 25 of the 2001 Act and amended by section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 25 of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act.back

[12] Section 49S was inserted by section 27(1) of the 2001 Act and amended by section 1(3) of, and paragraphs 1 and 18 of Schedule 1 to, the 2002 Act.back

[13] S.I. 2001/3744. The National Health Service Tribunal was abolished by section 16 of the 2001 Act, with effect from 14th December 2001, subject to article 2(5) and (6) of S.I. 2001/3738 which provided for a later commencement date for section 16 in respect of certain types of case before the National Health Service Tribunal.back

[14] Section 29B was inserted by section 32(1) of the 1997 Act and amended by sections 3(a), 15 and 20(1) and (3) of the 2001 Act, sections 2(5) and 37(2) of, and paragraphs 1 and 5 of Schedule 2 and Part 1 of Schedule 9 to, the 2002 Act.back

[15] Section 49F was inserted by section 25 of the 2001 Act and amended by section 2(5) of, and paragraphs 1 and 21(a) of Schedule 2 to, the 2002 Act.back

[16] S.I. 2001/3744. Regulation 6(2) was amended by S.I. 2002/2469.back

[17] 1986 c. 46.back

[18] S.I. 1986/1032 (N.I.6).back

[19] 1986 c. 45.back

[20] 1990 c. 40.back

[21] 1907 c. 36.back



ISBN 0 11 048222 0


  Prepared 4 December 2003


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