Clause 16 - Intervention orders
Health and Social Care Bill
11:45 am
Mr John Denham (Minister of State, Department of Health; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
I have two points to make in reply to the hon. Gentleman. The duration or other details of an order would be matters for the Secretary of State, who would, I understand, have some discretion over how the order was laid. It could be time-limited or open-ended.
As to securing the prime object of the case, which is an important question, the trust would still exist as a legal entity and would be subject to all the same powers of intervention and support that we debated earlier and which I am sure we shall discuss under later clauses. The Secretary of State would maintain a built-in interest in the performance of the trust. That mechanism would enable the Secretary of State to monitor performance under the order and take whatever measures were necessary.
That is probably enough for now, but other issues that arise under clause 2 might provide elaboration on those points.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 16 ordered to stand part of the Bill.