Urgent, immediate action required please
Secondary legislation under Section 75 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
We have only learned this morning that the deadline for writing to the clerk mentioned below is tomorrow Monday 25th February so please write NOW if you can. We would be grateful if you also ask your friends and contacts to do the same.
The essential message is at the foot of this e-mail
• On 13th February 2013 the Government published the regulations (SI 257) under Section 75 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/257/contents/made
• Assurances were given by ministers during the passage of the Bill through Parliament that it did not mean the privatisation of the NHS, that local people would have the final say in who provided their NHS.
• The regulations just published break these promises by creating requirements for virtually all commissioning done by the National Commissioning Board (NCB) and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to be carried out through competitive markets, which will have the effect of forcing through privatisation regardless of the will of local people. They contain legal powers for Monitor to enforce the privatisation spontaneously or at the request of private companies that lost bids.
• They would also make it impossible to fulfil some of the key thrust of the Francis report recommendations.
This Statutory Instrument (SI) will be going to the Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee on 5th March; this Committee will then report to the House. If people contact the Clerk of the Committee to emphasise its importance it will encourage them to look seriously at the Secondary Legislation and then hopefully report it to the House as meriting special attention. This in turn helps the tone of the debate on the SI.
The Clerk can be contacted at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> .
According to HSJ, “Lawyers working in the NHS told HSJ the regulations could have wide-reaching implications on the mix of providers of NHS-funded services. The rules ban “any restrictions on competition that are not necessary”. They say contracts can only be awarded without tender for “technical reasons, or reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights” or for “reasons of extreme urgency”.
EXAMPLE E-MAIL
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Subject: |
Secondary legislation under Section 75 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 |
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Date: |
Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:29:41 +0000 |
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From: |
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To: |
<[email protected]> |
Dear Sir / Madam,
Secondary legislation under Section 75 of the Health and Social Care Act
2012
I understand that the Lords’ Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
will be discussing the regulations laid by the Government under Section
75 of the new NHS Act (1) at their meeting on 5 March.
I should like to draw to your attention the radical nature of these
regulations. During the passage of the Health and Social Care Act
through Parliament ministers constantly reassured us that there was no
possibility of NHS services being forced into ‘the market’, and that the
health regulator Monitor would not have powers to enforce such a change.
It followed that the NHS would not therefore be subject to EU
competition law, and thus no irrevocable change was being made to its
status.
However, examination of the new regulations reveals that local
commissioners, the new Clinical Commissioning Groups, will have no power
to resist Monitor’s demands, will be less able to introduce quality
criteria, in addition to cost criteria, into the contracts they are
required to let, and will have less opportunity to consult local people
about their plans.
Since this is in direct contravention of what was said to Parliament, I
hope you will be able to ensure their Lordships know that these
regulations merit special attention and are not simply implemented
without contradiction and change.
Yours faithfully,
(1) The National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and
Competition) Regulations 2013) made under Section 75 of the Health &
Social Care Act 2012) [2]
[2] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/257/contents/made
Courtesy of Dr David Wrigley
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