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Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill


Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Part 1 — NHS foundation trusts

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     (5)    The investment may include investment by—

           (a)           forming, or participating in forming, bodies corporate,

           (b)           otherwise acquiring membership of bodies corporate.

     (6)    An NHS foundation trust may give financial assistance (whether by way of

loan, guarantee or otherwise) to any person for the purposes of or in

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connection with its functions.

 18    General powers

     (1)    An NHS foundation trust may do anything which appears to it to be necessary

or desirable for the purposes of or in connection with its functions.

     (2)    In particular it may—

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           (a)           acquire and dispose of property,

           (b)           enter into contracts,

           (c)           accept gifts of property (including property to be held on trust for the

purposes of the NHS foundation trust or for any purposes relating to

the health service in England),

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           (d)           employ staff.

     (3)    Any power of the trust to pay remuneration and allowances to any person

includes power to make arrangements for providing, or securing the provision

of, pensions or gratuities (including those payable by way of compensation for

loss of employment or loss or reduction of pay).

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 19    Information

     (1)    An authorisation—

           (a)           must require an NHS foundation trust to disclose such information as

the Secretary of State specifies to the regulator,

           (b)           may require an NHS foundation trust to disclose other information to

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the regulator.

     (2)    The regulator may require any other health service body to disclose any

information to him which he requires for the purposes of his functions.

 20    Entry and inspection of premises

An authorisation may require an NHS foundation trust to allow the regulator

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to enter and inspect premises owned or controlled by the trust.

 21    Fees

An authorisation may require an NHS foundation trust to pay a reasonable

annual fee to the regulator.

 22    Trust funds and trustees

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     (1)    The Secretary of State may by order provide for the appointment of trustees for

an NHS foundation trust to hold property on trust—

           (a)           for the purposes of the NHS foundation trust, or

           (b)           for any purposes relating to the health service in England.

 

 

Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Part 1 — NHS foundation trusts

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     (2)    The order may—

           (a)           make provision as to the persons by whom trustees are to be appointed

and generally as to the method of their appointment,

           (b)           make any appointment subject to such conditions as may be specified

in the order (including conditions requiring the consent of the Secretary

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of State),

           (c)           make provision as to the number of trustees to be appointed, including

provision under which that number may from time to time be

determined by the Secretary of State after consultation with such

persons as he considers appropriate,

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           (d)           make provision with respect to the term of office of any trustee and his

removal from office.

     (3)    Where trustees have been appointed for an NHS foundation trust under this

section, the Secretary of State may by order provide for the transfer of any trust

property from the NHS foundation trust to the trustees.

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     (4)    Where an NHS trust for which trustees have been appointed under section 11

of the 1990 Act is given an authorisation, the order appointing the trustees is to

have effect as an order under this section.

Failure

 23    Failing NHS foundation trusts

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     (1)    If the regulator is satisfied—

           (a)           that an NHS foundation trust is contravening, or failing to comply

with, any term of its authorisation or any requirement imposed on it

under any enactment and that the contravention or failure is

significant, or

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           (b)           that an NHS foundation trust has contravened, or failed to comply

with, any such term or requirement and is likely to do so again and that

the contravention or failure was significant,

            he may by a notice to the trust exercise any one or more of the powers in

subsections (3) and (4).

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     (2)    He may also by a notice to the trust exercise any one or more of those powers

if he is satisfied that the trust has contravened or failed to comply with a

previous notice.

     (3)    The regulator may require the trust, the directors or the board of governors to

do, or not to do, specified things or things of a specified description within a

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specified period.

     (4)    The regulator may remove any or all of the directors or members of the board

of governors and appoint interim directors or members of the board.

     (5)    The regulator’s power to remove a director, or member of the board of

governors, of the trust includes power to suspend him from office, or to

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disqualify him from holding office, as a director or member of the board of

governors of the trust for a specified period.

 

 

Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Part 1 — NHS foundation trusts

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 24    Voluntary arrangements

     (1)    If the regulator is satisfied that it is necessary or desirable to do so, he may by

a notice to an NHS foundation trust require the directors—

           (a)           to take steps to obtain a moratorium, or

           (b)           to make a proposal for a voluntary arrangement.

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     (2)    An order may provide for Part 1 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45) (company

voluntary arrangements) to apply with modifications in relation to NHS

foundation trusts; and the references in this Part to a moratorium or voluntary

arrangement are to a moratorium under section 1A, or a voluntary

arrangement under Part 1, of that Act as modified by the order.

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 25    Dissolution etc.

     (1)    The powers conferred by this section are exercisable where—

           (a)           an NHS foundation trust contravenes or fails to comply with a notice

under section 23 or 24 or the trust’s compliance with a notice under

section 24 does not result in the implementation of a voluntary

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arrangement, and

           (b)           the regulator considers that further exercise of any of the powers

conferred by those sections would not be likely to secure the provision

of the goods and services which the authorisation requires the trust to

provide.

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     (2)    Before the powers conferred by this section are exercised, the regulator must

consult prescribed persons about prescribed matters.

               “Prescribed” means prescribed by an order.

     (3)    An order may transfer, or provide for the transfer, of any property or liabilities

of the trust to—

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           (a)           another NHS foundation trust,

           (b)           a Primary Care Trust,

           (c)           an NHS trust,

           (d)           the Secretary of State.

     (4)    Schedule 3 (which provides for the transfer of employees) has effect.

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     (5)    An order may provide for the dissolution of the trust.

     (6)    An order may apply any provision of Part 4 of the Insolvency Act 1986

(winding up of companies), including any related provision of that Act, with

modifications.

     (7)    Where the regulator refuses to give an authorisation to a public benefit

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corporation—

           (a)           the powers conferred by this section are also exercisable,

           (b)           references in this section and Schedule 3 to an NHS foundation trust are

to be read as references to the corporation.

 26    Sections 23 to 25: supplementary

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     (1)    This section applies for the purposes of sections 23 to 25.

     (2)    An order means an order made by the Secretary of State.

 

 

Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Part 1 — NHS foundation trusts

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     (3)    The regulator must send a copy of any notice given under section 23 or 24 to

the registrar of companies.

     (4)    The regulator must give notice of any dissolution of the trust to the registrar of

companies.

     (5)    The modifications of the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45) that may be made by an

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order include (for example)—

           (a)           provision for securing that the goods and services which the trust is

required by the authorisation to provide continue to be provided

(whether by the trust or another),

           (b)           provision for securing the protection of property needed for the

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purposes of those goods and services.

Co-operation

 27    Co-operation between NHS bodies

In section 26 of the Health Act 1999 (c. 8) (co-operation between NHS bodies),

for “and NHS trusts” there is substituted “, NHS trusts and NHS foundation

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trusts”.

Patient and public involvement

 28    Public involvement and consultation

In section 11(2) of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 (c. 15) (public

involvement and consultation), at the end there is inserted—

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                  “(d)                    NHS foundation trusts”.

 29    Patients’ Forums

     (1)    The National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002

(c. 17) is amended as follows.

     (2)    In section 16 (additional functions of PCT Patients’ Forums), in subsection (4),

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after paragraph (c) there is inserted—

                  “(ca)                    NHS foundation trusts which provide services to patients in the

area of the Primary Care Trust,”.

     (3)    In section 17 (entry and inspection of premises), in subsection (1), after

paragraph (f) there is inserted—

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                  “(fa)                    NHS foundation trusts,”.

     (4)    In section 18 (annual reports), in subsection (2), at the end there is inserted—

                  “(e)                    where the report includes provision which relates to any NHS

foundation trust, the Independent Regulator of NHS

Foundation Trusts”.

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 30    Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health

In section 20(12) of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care

Professions Act 2002 (Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in

 

 

Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
Part 1 — NHS foundation trusts

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Health), in the definition of “health service bodies”, for “and NHS trusts” there

is substituted “, NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts”.

Miscellaneous

 31    Taxation

     (1)    In section 519A of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (c. 1) (taxation

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of health service bodies), in subsection (2), after paragraph (b) there is

inserted—

                  “(bb)                    an NHS foundation trust”.

     (2)    Section 61(3) of the 1990 Act (health service bodies: stamp duty) applies to an

NHS foundation trust as it applies to an NHS trust.

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     (3)    In section 41 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (c. 23) (application to the

Crown), in subsection (7), after “1978” there is inserted “an NHS foundation

trust”.

 32    Other amendments relating to NHS foundation trusts

Schedule 4 (which makes amendments relating to NHS foundation trusts) has

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effect.

 33    Offence

     (1)    A person may not vote at an election for the board of governors of an NHS

foundation trust unless, within the specified period, he has made a declaration

in the specified form that he is a member of the public constituency or (as the

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case may be) staff constituency.

     (2)    A person may not stand for election to the board unless, within the specified

period, he has made a declaration in the specified form that he is a member of

the trust.

     (3)    A person elected to the board may not vote at a general meeting of the board

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unless, within the specified period, he has made a declaration in the specified

form that he is a member of the trust.

     (4)    Specified means specified for the purpose in the trust’s constitution.

     (5)    A person is guilty of an offence if he—

           (a)           makes a declaration under this section which he knows to be false in a

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material particular, or

           (b)           recklessly makes such a declaration which is false in a material

particular.

     (6)    A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary

conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

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 34    General duty of NHS foundation trusts

An NHS foundation trust must exercise its functions effectively, efficiently and

economically.

 

 

 
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Revised 13 March 2003