New Clause 8 - Amendments relating to Local Health Boards and abolition of Welsh health authorities
Health Bill
6:45 pm
Caroline Flint (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Health), Department of Health; Don Valley, Labour)
New clause 8 and related minor amendments Nos. 138, 139 and 140 allow the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to make orders by statutory instrument to deal with out-of-date references to health authorities in legislation. Since the establishment of PCTs in England and local health boards in Wales, there are no longer any health service bodies called health authorities. The order-making power will enable statutory references to be updated. Such an order could be used to reflect the fact that, since the abolition of health authorities in Wales, most of their former functions have been delegated to local health boards. If the Assembly were to decide to withdraw that delegation in future, the order could substitute a reference to the Assembly in place of a reference to a local health board. These are technical changes to update the language used.