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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many appointees to the boards of (a) strategic health authorities and (b) primary care trusts have declared political activity for (i) the Labour Party, (ii) the Conservative Party, (iii) the Liberal Democrats and (iv) other political parties; and in each case what percentage this represents of the total number of appointments made; [159626] (2) how many councillors have been appointed as (a) chairman and (b) non-executive directors of (i) strategic health authorities and (ii) primary care trusts; and how many declared a political affiliation to (A) the Labour Party, (B) the Conservative Party, (C) the Liberal Democrats and (D) other political parties; [159629] (3) how many board members of NHS trusts have been re-appointed to their posts in each of the last five years for which records are available; of those re- appointed, how many have declared political activity for (a) the Labour Party, (b) the Conservative Party, (c) the Liberal Democrat Party and (d) other political parties; and what percentage each category constitutes of the total number of re-appointments; [159630] (4) how many appointees to the boards of NHS trusts in each of the last five years have declared political activity for (a) the Labour Party, (b) the Conservative Party, (c) the Liberal Democrats and (d) other political parties; and in each case what percentage this represents of the total number of appointments made; [159627] (5) how many councillors have been appointed as (a) chairman and (b) non-executive directors of NHS trusts in each of the last five years; and how many declared a political affiliation to (i) the Labour Party, (ii) the Conservative Party, (iii) the Liberal Democrats and (iv) other political parties; [159628] (6) how many members of primary care trusts have been re-appointed to their posts; how many of those who have been re-appointed have declared political activity for (a) the Labour Party, (b) the Conservative Party, (c) the Liberal Democrat Party and (d) other political parties; and what percentage each category constitutes of the total number of re-appointments. [159631] Ms Rosie Winterton: The information is shown in the tables. Political activity of all current chair and non-executive appointments to the boards of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Strategic health authorities Primary care trusts Number Percentage Number Percentage None 156 76.85 1,071 64.60 Conservative 10 4.93 91 5.49 Labour 32 15.76 396 23.88 Liberal Democrat 3 1.48 71 4.28 Other 2 0.99 29 1.75 Total 203 -- 1,658 -- _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Political activity of chair and non-executive appointments to the boards national health service trusts _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2001-02 2002-03 2003 to end of January 2004 Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage None 388 70.29 419 75.22 306 73.73 Conservative 16 2.90 24 4.31 24 5.78 Labour 122 22.10 92 16.52 62 14.94 Liberal Democrat 21 3.80 15 2.69 18 4.34 Other 5 0.91 7 1.26 5 1.20 Total 552 100.00 557 100.00 415 100.00 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Separate information on NHS trusts is not available for the previous two years. Councillors appointed to the boards of national health service trusts _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Chairs Conservative 1 11.11 1 20.00 -- -- Labour 8 88.89 3 60.00 4 100.00 Liberal Democrat -- -- 1 20.00 -- -- Other -- -- -- -- -- -- Total 9 100.00 5 100.00 4 100.00 Non-executives Conservative 4 8.89 6 13.33 3 11.54 Labour 33 73.33 33 73.33 13 50.00 Liberal Democrat 8 17.78 3 6.67 6 23.08 Other -- -- 3 6.67 4 15.38 Total 45 100.00 45 100.00 26 100.00 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Information for the previous two years is not available. Political affiliation of people appointed to primary care trusts and strategic health authorities who have declared political activity as a councillor _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Chairs 2001-02 2002-03 2003 to end of January 2004 Conservative -- 1 -- Labour -- 7 1 Liberal Democrat -- 3 -- Other -- -- -- Total -- 11 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Political affiliation of people appointed to primary care trusts and strategic health authorities who have declared political activity as a councillor _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Non-executives 2001-02 2002-03 2003 to end of January 2004 Conservative -- 10 4 Labour -- 47 11 Liberal Democrat -- 12 -- Other -- 7 1 Total -- 76 16 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Political activity of people re-appointed to national health service trusts ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2001-02 2002-03 2003 to end of January 2004 Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage None 146 66.67 174 73.11 151 71.9 Conservative 2 0.91 11 4.62 9 4.29 Labour 59 26.94 44 18.49 38 18.10 Liberal Democrat 10 4.57 7 2.94 11 5.24 Other 2 0.91 2 0.84 1 0.48 Total 219 100 238 100 210 100 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Information on the previous two years is not available. Political activity of people re-appointed to the boards of primary care trusts ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2001-02 2002-03 2003 to end of January 2004 Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage None 2 66.67 17 77.27 59 64.13 Conservative -- -- 1 4.55 2 2.17 Labour 1 33.33 3 13.64 24 26.09 Liberal Democrat -- -- -- -- 6 6.52 Other -- -- 1 4.55 1 1.09 Total 3 100 22 100 92 100 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. In November 2002, the National Health Service Appointments Commission (the body responsible for making appointments to NHS boards) instructed the Nuffield Centre at Leeds University to carry out an analysis of the candidates appointed by the Commission and their political activity. The research found that the higher number of Labour activists appointed largely reflected the higher proportion of Labour activists that applied; and did not suggest any systematic preference for one political party over another.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

421 c966-9W; 159626;159629;159630;159627;159628;159631

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Councillors Health authorities NHS Membership Public appointments Political parties Political activities Primary care trusts NHS trusts

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk