§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the powers he has to remove a chair of a hospital trust, indicating the circumstances where these procedures apply. [29371
§ Ms BlearsI apologise to my hon. Friend for the delay in responding to this question. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
Under the terms of paragraphs 9(3), (4) and (6) of the National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1990, and paragraph 2(2) of the National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Amendment Regulations 1997, the Secretary of State for Health can terminate the appointment of a chair or non-executive director of a national health service trust if:
he is of the opinion that it is not in the interests of the health service that a person who is appointed as chair or non-executive director of an NHS trust should continue to hold that office;the chair or non-executive director has not attended a meeting of the trust for a period of three months; orif it appears to the Secretary of State that the chair or non-executive director has failed to comply with the requirements of the regulations with regard to disclosure of pecuniary interests in matters under discussion at meetings of the trust.Enforcement of these provisions has now been delegated by the Secretary of State to the NHS Appointments Commission.