§ Mr. CollinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many appointments he has made to public bodies since 7 June; and how many are in his gift. [15490]
§ Ms BlearsInformation about numbers of ministerial appointments to public bodies is included in the Cabinet Office's annual report, "Public Bodies". Copies are available in the Library and the report is published on the Cabinet Office's internet website. The next edition of "Public Bodies", which will include numbers of appointments at 31 March 2001, will be published around the end of the year.
238 public appointments were made by departmental Ministers between 7 June and 31 October 2001. A total of 1,041 public appointments are directly within the gift of Department of Health Ministers, 14 of which are joint appointments with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Public appointments to national health service trusts, health authorities and primary care trusts have since April 2001 been made by the NHS Appointments Commission.