Schedule 1 - Constitution of public benefit corporations
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Public Bill Committees, 15 May 2003, 2:30 pm
Ms Hazel Blears (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (public health), Department of Health; Salford, Labour)
The minimum is actually left for the local community to decide and recommend. National health service foundation trusts will prepare draft constitutions when they make their second stage applications. The trusts must consult the local community, the primary care trusts, their partner organisations, and perhaps the local university and medical school, to assess whether they have judged the situation correctly. A trust then submits the constitution to the Secretary of State and the independent regulator. That early buy-in is more robust than the Government defining a minimum number of members in the Bill. The correct balance has been struck in the Bill to get maximum buy-in from the local community.