National Health Service Act 1977

Sections 8, 10 and 12.

SCHEDULE 5Regional and Area Health Authorities, Family Practitioner Committees, and Special Health Authorities

PART IMembership of Regional and Area Health Authorities

Regional Health Authorities

1(1)A Regional Health Authority shall consist of a chairman appointed by the Secretary of State, and of such number of other members appointed by him as he thinks fit.

(2)Except in prescribed cases, it is the Secretary of State's duty, before he appoints a member of a Regional Health Authority other than the chairman, to consult with respect to the appointment—

(a)such of the following bodies of which the areas or parts of them are within the region of the Authority, namely, county councils, metropolitan district councils, the Greater London Council, London borough councils, and the Common Council of the City of London ;

(b)the university or universities with which the provision of health services in that region is, or is to be, associated ;

(c)such bodies as the Secretary of State may recognise as being, either in that region or generally, representative respectively of medical practitioners, dental practitioners, nurses, midwives, registered pharmacists and ophthalmic and dispensing opticians, or representative of such other professions as appear to him to be concerned ;

(d)any federation of workers' organisations which appears to the Secretary of State to be concerned, and any voluntary organisation within the meaning of section 23 above and any other body which appear to him to be concerned ; and

(e)in the case of an appointment of a member falling to be made after the establishment of the Regional Health Authority in question, that Authority,

Area Health Authorities

2(1)Subject to paragraph 4 below, an Area Health Authority for an area in England shall consist of the following members—

(a)a chairman appointed by the Secretary of State ;

(b)the specified number of members appointed by the relevant Regional Authority after consultation (except in prescribed cases) with the bodies mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) below ;

(c)the specified number of members appointed by the relevant Regional Authority on the nomination of the university or universities specified as being associated with the provision of health services in that Authority's region; and

(d)the specified number (not less than four) of members appointed by the specified local authority or local authorities.

(2)The bodies referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above are—

(a)such bodies as the relevant Regional Authority may recognise as being, either in its region or in the area of the Area Health Authority or generally, representative respectively of medical practitioners, dental practitioners, nurses, midwives, registered pharmacists and ophthalmic and dispensing opticians, or representative of such other professions as appear to the relevant Regional Authority to be concerned;

(b)such other bodies (including any federation of workers' organisations) as appear to the relevant Regional Authority to be concerned, excluding any university which has nominated, or is entitled to nominate, a member, and any local authority which has appointed, or is entitled to appoint, a member ; and

(c)in the case of an appointment of a member falling to be made after the establishment of the Area Health Authority in question, that Authority.

3Paragraph 2 above applies to an Area Health Authority for an area in Wales as if, for any reference to the relevant Regional Authority, there were substituted a reference to the Secretary of State, and for any reference to England or the region of that Authority there were substituted a reference to Wales.

4The members of an Area Health Authority (Teaching) shall, in addition to the members appointed in pursuance of paragraph 2 above, include the specified number of members appointed—

(a)in the case of such an Authority the area of which is in England, by the relevant Regional Authority from among persons appearing to that Authority to have knowledge of and experience in, the administration of a hospital providing substantial facilities for under-graduate or post-graduate clinical teaching; and

(b)in the case of such an Authority the area of which is in Wales, by the Secretary of State from among persons appearing to him to have such knowledge and experience.

Supplemental

5(1)For the purposes of paragraphs 2 to 4 above—

(a)" local authority " means the council of a non-metropolitan county, a metropolitan district and a London borough, the Inner London Education Authority, and the Common Council of the City of London ;

(b)" the relevant Regional Authority" means the Regional Health Authority of which the region includes the area of the Area Health Authority in question ; and

(c)" specified" means specified in the order establishing the Area Health Authority in question, or, where another order provides for it to be called an Area Health Authority (Teaching), in that other order.

(2)Where—

(a)an order establishing an Area Health Authority, or another order providing for it to be called an Area Health Authority or an Area Health Authority (Teaching), specifies more than one university in pursuance of paragraph 2(1)(c) above, the order may contain provision as to which of the universities shall (either severally or jointly) nominate all or any of the members falling to be nominated in pursuance of that provision;

(b)such an order specifies more than one local authority in pursuance of paragraph 2(1)(d) above, the order may provide for each of the local authorities to appoint in pursuance of paragraph 2(1)(d) the number of members specified in the order in relation to that local authority.

PART IIMembership of Family Practitioner Committees

6(1)Subject to paragraph 7 below, a Family Practitioner Committee shall consist of thirty members, of whom—

(a)eleven shall be appointed by the Area Health Authority responsible for establishing the Committee, and at least one of them must be, but not every one of them shall be, a member of the Authority ;

(b)four shall be appointed by the local authority entitled in pursuance of paragraph 2(1)(d) above to appoint members of that Authority or, where two or more local authorities are so entitled, by those authorities acting jointly;

(c)eight shall be appointed by the Local Medical Committee for the area of that Authority, and one of them must be, but not more than one of them shall be, a medical practitioner having the qualifications prescribed in pursuance of section 38 above (ophthalmic services);

(d)three shall be appointed by the Local Dental Committee for that area ;

(e)two shall be appointed by the Local Pharmaceutical Committee for that area ;

(f)one shall be an ophthalmic optician appointed by such members of the Local Optical Committee for that area as are ophthalmic opticians ;

(g)one shall be a dispensing optician appointed by such members of that Local Optical Committee as are dispensing opticians.

The members of a Family Practitioner Committee shall from time to time, in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed, select one of their members to be the chairman of the Committee.

(2)If any appointment falling to be made in pursuance of sub-paragraph (1) above by, or by certain members of, a Local Committee is not made before such date as the Area Health Authority in question may determine for that appointment, the appointment shall be made by that Authority, to the exclusion of the Committee or members in question.

(3)A Local Committee—

(a)the members of which are mentioned in paragraphs (f) and (g) of sub-paragraph (1) may, if they think fit, appoint, in addition to the member of the Family Practitioner Committee appointed by them, an ophthalmic or, as the case may be, a dispensing optician to be the deputy of the member so appointed ; and

(b)by which such a practitioner as is mentioned in paragraph (c) of that sub-paragraph is appointed in pursuance of that paragraph as a member of a Family Practitioner Committee may if it thinks fit appoint another practitioner to be his deputy.

A deputy appointed in pursuance of this sub-paragraph may, while the member for whom he is deputy is absent from any meeting of the relevant Family Practitioner Committee, act as a member of that Committee in the place of the absent member.

7(1)If it appears to the Secretary of State that, by reason of special circumstances affecting the area of an Area Health Authority, it is appropriate that the Family Practitioner Committee established by the Authority should not be in accordance with paragraph 6 above, he may by order provide that that paragraph shall apply in relation to the Committee with such modifications as are specified in the order.

(2)It is the Secretary of State's duty—

(a)before he makes an order under sub-paragraph (1) above in respect of any Family Practitioner Committee, to consult that Committee with respect to the order ; and

(b)in making any such order, to have regard to the desirability of maintaining, so far as practicable, the same numerical proportion as between members falling to be appointed by different bodies in pursuance of paragraph 6 apart from any modification.

PART IIISupplementary Provisions

Corporate status

8Each Regional Health Authority, Area Health Authority, special health authority and Family Practitioner Committee (hereinafter in this Schedule referred to severally as " an authority ") shall be a body corporate.

Pay and allowances

9(1)The Secretary of State may pay to the chairman of an authority other than a Family Practitioner Committee such remuneration as he may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service.

(2)The Secretary of State may provide as he may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service for the payment of a pension, allowance or gratuity to or in respect of the chairman of an authority other than such a Committee.

(3)Where a person ceases to be chairman of an authority other than such a Committee, and it appears to the Secretary of State that there are special circumstances which make it right for that person to receive compensation, the Secretary of State may make to him a payment of such amount as the Secretary of State may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service.

(4)The Secretary of State may pay to a member of an authority, or of a committee or sub-committee of an authority, such travelling and other allowances (including attendance allowance or compensation for the loss of remunerative time) as he may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service.

(5)Allowances shall not be paid in pursuance of sub-paragraph (4) above except in connection with the exercise, in such circumstances as the Secretary of State may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, of such functions as he may so determine.

(6)Payments under this paragraph shall be made at such times, and in such manner and subject to such conditions, as the Secretary of State may determine with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service.

Staff

10(1)An authority other than a Family Practitioner Committee may employ, on such terms as it may determine in accordance with regulations and such directions as may be given by the Secretary of State, such officers as it may so determine ; and regulations made for the purposes of this sub-paragraph may contain provision—

(a)with respect to the qualifications of persons who may be employed as officers of an authority ;

(b)requiring an authority to employ, for the purpose of performing prescribed functions of the authority or any other body, officers having prescribed qualifications or experience ; and

(c)as to the manner in which any officers of an authority are to be appointed.

(2)Regulations may provide for the transfer of officers from one authority to another which is not a Family Practitioner Committee, and for arrangements under which the services of an officer of an authority are placed at the disposal of another authority or a local authority.

(3)Directions may be given—

(a)by the Secretary of State to an authority to place services of any of its officers at the disposal of another authority,

(b)subject to any directions given by the Secretary of State in pursuance of this sub-paragraph, by a Regional Health Authority to an Area Health Authority of which the area is included in its region to place services of any of its officers at the disposal of another such Area Health Authority,

(c)by the Secretary of State to any authority other than a Family Practitioner Committee to employ as an officer of the authority any person who is or was employed by another authority and is specified in the direction,

(d)by a Regional Health Authority to an Area Health Authority of which the area is included in its region to employ as an officer of the Area Health Authority any person who is or was employed by an authority other than the Area Health Authority and is specified in the direction,

and it shall be the duty of an authority to which directions are given in pursuance of this sub-paragraph to comply with the directions.

(4)Regulations made in pursuance of this paragraph shall not require that all consultants employed by an authority are to be so employed whole-time.

11(1)It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, before he makes regulations" in pursuance of paragraph 10 above, to consult such bodies as he may recognise as representing persons who, in his opinion, are likely to be affected by the regulations.

(2)Subject to sub-paragraph (3) below, it is the Secretary of State's duty, or, as the case may be, a Regional Health Authority's, before he or the Authority gives directions to an authority in pursuance of sub-paragraph (3) of paragraph 10 above in respect of any officer of an authority—

(a)to consult the officer about the directions ; or

(b)to satisfy himself or itself that the authority of which he is an officer has consulted the officer about the placing or employment in question ; or

(c)to consult, except in the case of a direction in pursuance of paragraph (c) or paragraph (d) of paragraph 10(3), with respect to the directions such body as he or the Authority may recognise as representing the officer.

(3)If the Secretary of State or Regional Health Authority—

(a)considers it necessary to give directions in pursuance of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of paragraph 10(3) for the purpose of dealing temporarily with an emergency, and

(b)has previously consulted bodies recognised by him or the Authority as representing the relevant officers about the giving of directions for that purpose,

the Secretary of State or the Authority shall be entitled to disregard sub-paragraph (2) above in relation to the directions.

Miscellaneous

12Provision may be made by regulations as to—

(a)the appointment and tenure of office of the chairman and members of an authority ;

(b)the appointment of, and the exercise of functions by, committees and sub-committees of an authority (including joint committees and joint sub-committees of two or more authorities, and committees and sub-committees consisting wholly or partly of persons who are not members of the authority in question) ; and

(c)the procedure of an authority, and of such committees and sub-committees as are mentioned in sub-paragraph (b) above.

13An authority may pay subscriptions, of such amounts as the Secretary of State may approve, to the funds of such bodies as he may approve.

14The proceedings of an authority shall not be invalidated by any vacancy in its membership, or by any defect in a member's appointment.

15(1)An authority shall, notwithstanding that it is exercising any function on behalf of the Secretary of State or another authority, be entitled to enforce any rights acquired in the exercise of that function, and be liable in respect of any liabilities incurred (including liabilities in tort) in the exercise of that function, in all respects as if it were acting as a principal.

Proceedings for the enforcement of such rights and liabilities shall be brought, and brought only, by or, as the case may be, against the authority in question in its own name.

(2)An authority shall not be entitled to claim in any proceedings any privilege of the Crown in respect of the discovery or production of documents.

This sub-paragraph shall not prejudice any right of the Crown to withhold or procure the withholding from production of any document on the ground that its disclosure would be contrary to the public interest.

(3)The Secretary of State may by order provide—

(a)that any right which a Regional Hospital Board, a Board of Governors or a Hospital Management Committee was entitled to enforce by virtue of section 13 of the [1946 c. 81.] National Health Service Act 1946 immediately before 1st April 1974, and

(b)that any liability in respect of which such a board or committee was liable by virtue of that section immediately before that day,

shall, on and after that day, be enforceable by or, as the case may be, against a health authority specified in the order as if the health authority so specified were concerned as a principal with the matter in question and did not exercise functions on behalf of the Secretary of State.

A statutory instrument containing only an order made by virtue of this sub-paragraph shall be laid before Parliament after being made.

16Provision may be made by regulations with respect to the recording of information by an authority, and the furnishing of information by an authority to the Secretary of State or another authority.