§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of(a) the NHS policy board and (b) the private finance panel have employment in the private sector; is she will list details of such employment; and what assessment she has made of the possibility of conflicts of interest. [30437]
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§ Mr. MaloneMembership of the national health service policy board is drawn from inside and outside the NHS and includes Ministers, senior officials, chairmen of the eight regional health authorities as well as other members who have no formal role in the NHS. No Ministers or senior officials have employment in the private sector. Like all advisory bodies in the NHS, which have no executive responsibility, the NHS policy board is non-statutory and provides advice to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. Members of the board drawn from outside the NHS are under no obligation to declare their employment or interests. Members of the board who are regional health authority chairmen are appointed to those positions through a process requiring them to declare interests which are relevant and material to authorities of which they are a member. Registers of these interests are publicly available and a copy of the relevant entries will be placed in the Library. Membership of the private finance panel is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.