Clause 13 - Public dividend capital
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
5:15 pm
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
I do not want to detain the Committee for long, but I spoke in an earlier stage of our proceedings about a point raised by the Royal College of Nursing, and I thought that I should now mention a couple of things it has raised about clause 13. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell, the RCN seeks clarification on the role of the Treasury in deciding the terms on which any public dividend capital from an NHS foundation trust is treated. It would also like to know how the clause will affect non-NHS organisations that gain foundation status. After rereading the requests of the RCN and hearing what my hon. Friend said, especially about subsection (3), I have a couple of supplementary questions for the Minister.
How will the consent of the Treasury referred to in subsection (3) be sought? Who in the Treasury will be responsible for making that decision, and will that decision be publicised and put into the public domain? In what circumstances could the Treasury withhold its consent and what would be the implications of such consent being withheld? Would the Treasury have to publicise its reasons for refusal, and if such consent were withheld, who would adjudicate in a dispute between the Treasury and the Secretary of State? There is a general element to subsection (3) that is far too vague at this stage. I seek clarification and I would like the Minister to put more details on the record, so
that people interpreting the Bill later may be guided by his thinking on subsection (3).