Clause 22 - Trust funds and trustees
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
6:30 pm
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
I understand the hon. Gentleman's argument that the Secretary of State should not be involved in the appointment of trustees for NHS foundation trusts. My right hon. Friend currently makes appointments of charitable trustees to NHS trusts. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that the appointments function will be delegated to the NHS Appointments Commission, as it is now.
However, safeguards are needed to ensure that the charitable funds held by NHS foundation trusts are properly administered. That includes ensuring that the charitable assets are used to provide benefits for patients and for the purposes for which they were intended. For all but relatively small funds, that means that there should be independently appointed trustees to administer the funds and the appropriate body to appoint the trustees is the NHS Appointments Commission, which has the necessary expertise and independence. I give the hon. Gentleman my absolute assurance that it is not a back-door way in for my right hon. Friend to control the assets of NHS foundation trusts. The Secretary of State does not have a direct role in that regard. The proposal is a continuation of existing arrangements, with the added bonus of delegating the appointments function to the NHS Appointments Commission.