§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many appointments to positions and bodies within the NHS(a)he and (b)the NHS Appointments Commission have made since the inception of the NHS Appointments Commission; [46723]
(2) how many people who have been appointed to a position within the NHS by (a)himself and (b)the NHS Appointments Commission have declared a political interest, broken down by political parties; and what proportion of the total number of appointees this represents for each political party between (i) 2 May 1997 and 31 March 2001 and (ii) 1 April 2001 and the latest available date. [46724]
426W
§ Ms BlearsSince its establishment in April 2001, the National Health Service Appointments Commission has made 1,469 executive appointments to the boards of national health service trusts, primary care trusts, health authorities and strategic health authorities. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made 421 appointments to these boards between 1 April and 2 July. This covered the period where the Commission had been formally established, but when the regional commissioners had not been appointed.
Information on the political activity of candidates appointed since 2 May 1997 is given in the tables.
Table 1: Secretary of State for Health appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities from 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2001 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) Conservative 286 5.2 Independent 51 0.9 Labour 1,393 25.1 Liberal Democrat 218 3.9 Other 31 0.6 Total declaring political interest 1,979 35.7 Not Politically active 3,564 64.3 Total Appointments for Period 5,543 100.0
Table 2: Secretary of State for Health appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities from 1 April 2001 to 2 July 2001 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) Conservative 19 4.5 Independent 3 0.7 Labour 106 25.2 Liberal Democrat 12 2.9 Other 3 0.7 Total declaring political interest 143 33.9 Not politically active 278 66.1 Total appointments for period 421 100.0
Table 3: Appointments Commission appointments to NHS trusts, primary care trusts, health authorities, strategic health authorities and care trusts from 2 July 2001 to 4 April 2002 Political party Appointees Proportion of total appointments (percentage) Conservative 66 4.5 Independent 14 1.0 Labour 389 26.5 Liberal Democrat 65 4.4 Other 7 0.5 Total declaring political interest 541 36.8 Not politically active 928 63.2 Total appointments for period 1,469 100.0