Clause 34 - NHS contracts and financial provisions
Health and Social Care Bill
2:30 pm
Sir George Young (North West Hampshire, Conservative)
My eye was attracted to the explanatory notes on clause 34 as paragraph 156 deals with the issue that my hon. Friend has just raised. It states:
``NHS contracts are not normally enforceable in the Courts.''
It is some time since I was a Health Minister, and I may have been aware of that, but had temporarily forgotten it. The NHS is a major employer. Is it really the case that those contracts of employment are not enforceable in the courts? Is it really the case that the major contracts that the NHS enters into with the private sector are not normally enforceable in the courts and the whole thing rests on the good will of the Secretary of State?
The next sentence says:
Instead, any disputes can be put to the Secretary of State ... for resolution.''
Will the Minister shed some light on that rather astonishing statement that the whole legal principle on which the NHS is founded rests ultimately on the mood of the Secretary of State as to whether or not he finds for the appellant. I assumed that it was subject to the rule of law and that was where disputes were resolved, but that sentence has somewhat undermined my faith in that concept. Perhaps the Minister can now put my mind at rest?