§ Mr. MaplesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the guidance given to regional chairmen in June on NHS board appointments. [21909]
§ Mr. Milburn[holding answer 22 December 1997]: We wrote to Regional Chairmen on 23 June signalling a raft of changes that we had decided should be made to the appointments process. They were as follows:
the person specification for non-executives and chairmen to be changed to encourage more National Health Service users and carers as their community representatives on NHS boards;156Winterview panels to ensure that all candidates were personally committed to the NHS and would bring a user's perspective to the board;local authorities and Members of Parliament to be invited to nominate candidates. All nominees to go through the usual selection process and be judged on merit;the balance of board membership to be changed, shifting more towards users and carers and others with a community voice; andall candidates, including those nominated by MPs and local authorities, those already on a database, new self-nominees and serving board members seeking reappointment to be considered against the new criteria for the vacancies available.