HC Deb 10 December 2001 vol 376 cc723-4W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the(a) membership and (b) remit of the National Specialist Commissioning Advisory Group. [19923]

Mr. Hutton

The National Specialist Commissioning Advisory Group (NSCAG) is chaired by Dr. Mike Gill, the Regional Director of Public Health for South East Region.

The current membership of the National Specialist Commissioning Advisory Group is as follows:

  • Dr. Mike Gill, NSCAG Chairman and Regional Director of Public Health, South East RO
  • Dr. Chris Bayliss, Consultant Radiologist, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
  • Professor Carol Black, Clinical Vice President, Royal College of Physicians
  • Ms Jenny Brown, Director Nursing, Hull and East Yorkshire Health Authority
  • Professor John Cox, President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
  • Dr. Bernard Crump, Director of Public Health, Leicester Health Authority
  • Dr. Keith Dodd, Consultant Paediatrician, Derbyshire Children's Hospital
  • Professor George Elder, Pathologist, College of Medicine, Cardiff
  • Mr. David Flory, Chief Executive, Newcastle and North Tyneside Health Authority
  • Ms Linda Hamlyn, Chief Executive, West Hertfordshire Health Authority
  • Mr. James Johnson, Chairman of the Joint Consultants Committee
  • Mr. Eamonn Kelly, Director of Health Policy and Strategy, Coventry Health Authority
  • Sir Peter Morris, President, Royal College of Surgeons
  • Mr. Nick Relph, Chief Executive, Berkshire Health Authority
  • Professor Stephen Tomlinson, Faculty of Medicine, Manchester Royal Infirmary
  • Professor Kent Woods, Director of HTA, Leicester.

NSCAG was established in 1996 to advise Ministers on the identification and funding of services where central intervention into local commissioning of patient services is necessary for reasons of clinical effectiveness, equity of access and/or economic viability. It superseded the Supra Regional Services Advisory Group (SRSAG).

The terms of reference of NSCAG are as follows: To advise Secretary of State on:

  1. (a) the identification and funding of services under the Supra Regional Services arrangements;
  2. (b) the identification and funding of specialised services not qualifying for Supra Regional Service designation, but where there is an economic and/or clinical justification for contracting centrally for their delivery.
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  3. (c) the commissioning of purchaser guidelines for specialised services where purchasing is best arranged through local purchasers by means of lead purchaser or purchaser consortium arrangements; and
  4. (d) funding the service costs of new developments, in those services for which it is likely to become the purchaser, to enable full evaluation to take place.