Health Authorities (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1996
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1996/707 |
| Year | 1996 |
1996 No. 707
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Health Authorities (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1996
Made 11th March 1996
Laid before Parliament 11th March 1996
Coming into force 1st April 1996
The Secretary of State for Health, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of powers conferred on them by sections 126(4) and 128(1) of, and paragraphs 1 to 4, 12 and 12A of Schedule 5 to the National Health Service Act 19771and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:—
PART I
GENERAL
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Health Authorities (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st April 1996.
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the 1977 Act” means the National Health Service Act 1977;
“appointed officer member” means an officer member who is appointed in accordance with regulation 2(4)(b);
“appointing authority” means, in relation to an appointed officer member of an Authority, the persons responsible for his appointment in accordance with the Schedule;
“Authority” means a Health Authority;
“discipline committee” means a medical, dental, ophthalmic or pharmaceutical discipline committee or a joint disciplne committee established under the National Health Service (Service Committee and Tribunal) Regulations 19922;
“health service body” means—
(a) an Authority, a Special Health Authority or an NHS trust;
(b) a Health Board or Special Health Board constituted under section 2 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 19783, or the Scottish Dental Practice Board, the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service or an NHS Trust respectively constituted under sections 4, 10 and 12A of that Act;
(c) The Dental Practice Board;
(d) The Public Health Laboratory Service Board; and
(e) the National Radiological Protection Board established by section 1 of the Radiological Protection Act 19704;
“medical audit committee” means a committee whose functions are concerned with the analysis of the quality of medical care;
“member”, in relation to an Authority, does not include its chairman, and “members” and“membership” shall be construed accordingly;
“non-officer member” means a member of an Authority who is appointed under paragraph 1(b) of the Schedule;
“officer member” means a member of an Authority who is a member by virtue of paragraph 1(c) of the Schedule;
“Part II services” means general medical services, general dental services, general ophthalmic services or pharmaceutical services under the 1977 Act;
“the Schedule” means Part I of Schedule 5 to the 1977 Act5;
“service committee” means a medical, dental, ophthalmic or pharmaceutical service committee, a joint services committee or a denture conciliation committee established under the National Health Service (Service Committees and Tribunal) Regulations 1992;
“shares” means shares in the share capital of a company or other body or the stock of a company or other body;
“trade union” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 19926; and
“the Tribunal” means the Tribunal constituted under section 46 of the 1977 Act7.
(3) In regulation 16—
“public body” includes any body established for the purpose of carrying on, under national ownership, any industry or part of any industry or undertaking, the governing body of any university, university college or college, school or hall of a university and the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty incorporated by the National Trust Act 19078;
“securities” means—
(a) shares or debentures, whether constituting a charge on the assets of the company or other body or not, or rights or interests in any shares or such debentures; or
(b) rights (whether actual or contingent) in respect of money lent to or deposited with, any industrial and provident society or building society.
PART II
MEMBERSHIP
Membership of Authorities
2.—(1) The prescribed maximum number of non-officer members to be appointed to an Authority for the purposes of paragraph 1(b) of the Schedule shall be seven.
(2) Where, in the case of an Authority specified in the first column of Schedule 1, the university specified opposite that Authority in the second column of that Schedule has a medical or dental school, one of the non-officer members to be appointed to that Authority shall be a person who holds a poost in that university.
(3) The prescribed number of officer members of an Authority for the purposes of paragraph 1(c) of the Schedule shall be five.
(4) Of the five officer members—
(a)
(a) three shall be the persons who hold the offices mentioned in paragraph (5); and
(b)
(b) the other two shall be appointed by the chairman and the non-officer members of the Authority.
(5) The offices of a prescribed description, for the purposes of paragraph 3(a) of the Schedule, shall be the offices of chief executive, director of finance and director of public health.
Joint members
3. Where more than one person is appointed jointly to a post in an Authority which qualifies the holder for officer membership or in relation to which an officer member is to be appointed, those persons shall become or be appointed as an officer member jointly, and shall count for the purposes of regulation 2(3) as one person.
Period of tenure of office of chairman and members
4.—(1) Subject to regulation 8, the tenure of office of a chairman or non-officer member of an Authority shall be for such period, not exceeding four years, as the Secretary of State may specify on making the appointment.
(2) Subject to regulation 5 the tenure of office of an appointed officer member of an Authority shall be for such period as the appointing authority may specify on making the appointment.
Termination of tenure of office and suspension of officer members
5.—(1) An officer member of an Authority shall cease to hold office as a member where he ceases to hold a post in the Authority or to hold the same post in it as when he commenced his term of office.
(2) If the appointing authority is of the opinion that it is not in the interest of the Authority that an appointed officer member of an Authority should continue to hold office as member, the appointing authority shall forthwith terminate his tenure of office.
(3) If an officer member of an Authority is suspended from his post in the Authority he shall be suspended from performing his functions as a member for the period of his suspension.
Eligibility for reappointment of officer members
6. An appointed officer member of an Authority shall on the termination of the period of his tenure of office be eligible for reappointment.
Application of regulations 8 to 11
7. The provisions of regulations 8 to 11 shall not apply to officer members of an Authority.
Termination of tenure of office
8.—(1) The chairman or a member of an Authority may resign his office at any time during the period for which he was appointed by giving notice in writing to the Secretary of State.
(2) The date on which a resignation by notice given pursuant to paragraph (1) shall take effect shall be—
(a)
(a) where a date is specified in the notice as being that on which the resignation is to take effect, that date; and
(b)
(b) in any other case, the date on which the notice is received by the Secretary of State.
(3) Where during his period of membership a member of an Authority is appointed to be the chairman of that Authority, his tenure of office as a member shall terminate when his appointment as chairman takes effect.
(4) If the Secretary of State is of the opinion that—
(a)
(a) it is not in the interests of the health service in the area for which an Authority acts; or
(b)
(b) it is not conducive to the good management of an Authority,
for a person whom he has appointed as the chairman or a member of that Authority to continue to hold that office, the Secretary of State may forthwith terminate his tenure of office.
(5) If the chairman or a member of an Authority has failed to attend a meeting of that Authority for a period of six months, the Secretary of State shall forthwith terminate the tenure of office of the chairman or that member unless he is satisfied that—
(a)
(a) the absence was due to a reasonable cause; and
(b)
(b) the chairman or member will be able to attend meetings of that Authority within such period as the Secretary of State considers reasonable.
(6) Where a person has been appointed to be the chairman or a member of an Authority—
(a)
(a) if it comes to the notice of the Secretary of State that the person has become disqualified for appointment under regulation 10, the Secretary of State shall forthwith notify him in writing of such disqualification; or
(b)
(b) if it comes to the notice of the Secretary of State that at the time of his appointment the person was so disqualified, the Secretary of State shall forthwith declare that he was not duly appointed and so notify him in writing,
and, upon receipt of any such notification, his tenure of office, if any, shall be terminated and he shall cease to act as such chairman or member.
(7) If it appears to the Secretary of State that the chairman or a member of an Authority has failed to comply with regulation 16(1) he may forthwith terminate that person’s tenure of office.
(8) Where a member of an Authority who was appointed by virtue of regulation 2(2) ceases to hold a post in a university with a medical or dental school, the Secretary...
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