Tessa Munt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tessa Munt on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, to what extent NHS England is obliged to follow guidance issued by Monitor.

Jane Ellison

It is the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 that place requirements on NHS England, including requirements as to good practice in relation to procurement.

Enforcement of the procurement requirements by Monitor may only follow its investigation of a complaint that there has been a failure by a commissioner to comply with the requirements. Monitor has published guidance for NHS England and other commissioners of healthcare services which provides advice on how to comply with the regulations. Monitor expects to follow the interpretation of the regulations that it has set out in its guidance when exercising its enforcement powers under the regulations.

In addition, to the extent that NHS England acts as a commissioner of services, it has a legal duty to have regard to guidance which Monitor publishes for commissioners of services which are designated as ‘commissioner requested services’. Before publishing the guidance or any revisions to it, Monitor must have first consulted NHS England.