Clause 12 - Further functions of the Commission for Health Improvement
NHS Reform & Health Care Professions
12:15 pm
Mr Peter Atkinson (Hexham, Conservative)
My hon. Friend expressed many of the concerns that I was going to express on the relationship between CHI and the Audit Commission, but the Minister may be able to help me on one or two details. Subsection (5) is opaque, in that it amends the Audit Commission Act 1998 to allow CHI to do something that it was allowed to do under the Health Act 1999. However, the explanatory notes, which are always helpful in such matters, say that
''the Audit Commission must consult the Commission for Health Improvement on its programme of Value for Money studies in relation to the National Health Service as part of better co-ordination of regulation of the NHS.''
I am confused by the question of regulation, as the Audit Commission is not a regulatory body but a body that considers issues related to value for money.