Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of local authority health scrutiny committees and (b) ability of those committees to identify decisions and practices in the local health sector which have subsequently been changed.

Local government plays a vital role in planning local health services and in scrutinising the local National Health Service’s plans for the delivery and the improvement of those services. Members are accountable to their electorate for their actions, and guidance and support is available to help them. The Independent Reconfiguration Panel is also available to help scrutiny committee’s oversight of the NHS.