§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What will be the extra cost annually for salaries and administration of the health and social services trusts in Northern Ireland under the 1994 order; and whether there will be any compensating savings in the costs of health and social service boards.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)The proposed Health and Personal Social Services (NI) Order 1994 would allow HSS trusts to perform certain statutory functions which are currently the responsibility of health and social service boards. These functions are, however, currently carried out at local level by directly managed units. The proposals in the 1994 order are designated to enable such units to continue to do so where they are accepted for HSS trust status. As the legislation does not propose any significant differences to existing administrative arrangements, I do not expect there will be any measurable increase in cost; as boards lose responsibility for the direct provision of services, they should be in a position to reduce their administrative costs.
§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
If the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 becomes law, which legal entity should be sued when allegations are made of neglect of duty, malfeasance, negligence and ultra vires
§ Baroness Denton of WakefieldThe draft order will permit the delegation of certain statutory functions to health and social services trusts. Any trusts discharging such functions would be responsible in law for them and any legal action relating to the exercise of such functions by a trust would have to be brought against the trust. A similar situation exists at present in relation to functions which health and social service boards exercise on behalf of the Department under the Health and Personnel Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972.