Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the National Health Service Information Authority (Establishment and Constitution) Order 1999 and shall come into force on 1st April 1999.

(2) In this Order, “the Authority” means the National Health Service Information Authority established by this Order.

Establishment of the National Health Service Information Authority

2.  There is hereby established a Special Health Authority which shall be known as the National Health Service Information Authority.

Functions of the Authority

3.  Subject to and in accordance with such directions as the Secretary of State may give(2), the Authority shall perform such functions in connection with supporting the development and implementation of information and communication services in the health service as the Secretary of State may direct.

Constitution of the Authority

4.  The Authority shall consist of–

(a)a chairman;

(b)four members who are not officers of the Authority; and

(c)not less than two, nor more than four, members who are officers of the Authority, and who shall include the persons who for the time being hold the offices of Chief Officer and Chief Finance Officer.

Remuneration of members

5.  The Authority is hereby specified for the purposes of paragraph 9(7)(b) of Schedule 5 to the National Health Service Act 1977 (definition of “relevant authority” for the purposes of paying remuneration to members of Health Authorities and certain Special Health Authorities).

Public Meeting

6.  The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960(3) shall apply to the Authority.

Transfer of staff

7.—(1) This paragraph applies in relation to any officer who, immediately before the coming into force of this Order, is employed by a body specified in the Schedule to this Order and attached to the Information Management Group of the Department of Health for the purpose of performing the Secretary of State’s functions in connection with supporting the development and implementation of information and communication services in the health service.

(2) Any officer in relation to whom paragraph (1) of this article applies shall, on the coming into force of this Order, be transferred to the employment of the Authority.

(3) The contract of employment of an officer transferred under paragraph (2)–

(a)is not terminated by the transfer, and

(b)has effect from the time of the transfer as if originally made between the officer and the Authority.

(4) Without prejudice to paragraph (3)–

(a)all the rights, powers, duties and liabilities of the body from which an officer is transferred under or in connection with his contract of employment shall by virtue of this paragraph be transferred to the Authority, and

(b)anything done before the date of the transfer by or in relation to the body from which he is so transferred in respect of the officer or the contract of employment shall be deemed from that time to have been done by or in relation to the Authority.

(5) Paragraphs (2) to (4) do not transfer an officer’s contract of employment, or the rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with it, if he informs the body from which they would be transferred, or the Authority, that he objects to the transfer.

(6) Where an officer objects as mentioned in sub-paragraph (5) his contract of employment with the body from which he would be transferred shall be terminated immediately before the date on which the transfer would occur, but he shall not be treated, for any purpose, as having been dismissed by that body.

(7) This article is without prejudice to any right of an officer to terminate his contract of employment if a substantial change is made to his detriment in his working conditions; but no such right shall arise by reason only that, under this paragraph, the identity of his employer changes unless the officer shows that, in all the circumstances, the change is a significant change and is to his detriment.

Article 7

SCHEDULETransfer of staff: Bodies in respect of which article 7 applies

• Brent Health Authority

• Cambridge and Huntingdon Health Authority

• East Surrey Health Authority

• Leeds Health Authority

• Leicestershire Health Authority

• Liverpool Health Authority

• Manchester Health Authority

• North and East Devon Health Authority

• North and Mid-Hampshire Health Authority

• South Staffordshire Health Authority

• Wiltshire Health Authority

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order provides for the establishment and constitution of a Special Health Authority, to be known as the National Health Service Information Authority (“the Authority”), to exercise on behalf of the Secretary of State such functions in connection with supporting the development and implementation of information and communication services in the health service as he may direct it to perform.

Article 2 of the Order establishes the Authority, the functions of which are described in article 3 and are to be specified in directions given by the Secretary of State. Provision is also made for the constitution of the Authority (article 4), for the remuneration of members of the Authority who are not also its officers (article 5), for the admission of the public to meetings (article 6) and for the transfer of staff (article 7 and the Schedule).