National Health Service Endowment Funds

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 28 October 2021.

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Photo of Humza Yousaf Humza Yousaf Scottish National Party

Those are both very important questions. On the first question, I will not rehearse what I said to Carol Mochan, but we will look to see whether there is another legislative avenue that we can use to move this forward at pace, as opposed to introducing completely new primary legislation.

On the second question, it should be said that, since the issues first surfaced in relation to NHS Tayside, it has absolutely been the case that NHS boards have looked at their own governance and accountability processes and made changes themselves. It is also important to note—I am sure that the member has this impression—from the OSCR report on the NHS Tayside issue that there were not widespread issues with the conduct of trustees. In fact, OSCR said:

“The picture that has emerged from our analysis is generally positive and encouraging, and we hope this will help reassure existing and potential supporters of these charities. By and large, the NHS endowments charities in Scotland have appropriate charters, operating instructions, policies and terms of reference in place.”

Those documents exist. Of course, where they need to be updated on the back of the review, my expectation would be that NHS chairs and boards look thoroughly at the review and make the appropriate changes if necessary.