Statutory Instruments
1998 No. 1975

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, ENGLAND AND WALES
The National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Amendment Regulations 1998

Made
10th August 1998

Laid before Parliament
11th August 1998

Coming into force
10th September 1998

The Secretary of State for Health, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of powers conferred by section 126(4) of the National Health Service Act 1977(1) and section 5(7) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990(2) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Amendment Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 10th September 1998.

(2) In these Regulations, “the Regulations” means The National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1990(3).

Maximum number of directors

2.  For regulation 2 of the Regulations (maximum number of directors), there shall be substituted the following regulation—

“Maximum number of directors

2.—(1) The maximum number of directors of an NHS trust shall be twelve, excluding the Chairman.

(2) An NHS trust shall have no more than seven non-executive directors (excluding the Chairman), and no more than five executive directors.”.

Disqualification for appointment of chairman and non-executive directors

3.  At the end of regulation 11 of the Regulations, there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(6) A person shall not be disqualified by paragraph (1)(e) from being the chairman or a non-executive director of an NHS trust during the period between the date on which it is established and its operational date(4) by virtue of being the chairman or a non-executive director of another NHS trust.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health.

Baroness Hayman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
Department of Health
4th August 1998

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales

Jon Owen Jones
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
Welsh Office
10th August 1998

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the National Health Service Trusts (Membership and Procedure) Regulations 1990 (“the 1990 Regulations”) which make provision in connection with the membership and procedure of NHS trusts established under Part I of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990.
The amendment made to regulation 2 of the 1990 Regulations changes the maximum number of directors of an NHS trust from eleven to twelve (excluding the Chairman), and provides that no more than seven of these may be non-executive directors (excluding the Chairman) and no more than five shall be executive directors.
The amendment made to regulation 11 of the 1990 Regulations provides that a person is not to be disqualified from being the chairman or non-executive director of an NHS trust during the period between its establishment and its operational date, by virtue of being the chairman or non-executive director of another NHS trust.


(1)
1977 c. 49 (“the 1977 Act”); section 126(4) was amended by section 65(2) of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c. 19) (“the 1990 Act”). See, for the definitions of “prescribed” and “regulations”, section 128(1) of the 1977 Act, as amended by section 26(2)(g) and (i) of the 1990 Act.

(2)
1990 c. 19; section 5(7) was amended by paragraph 69(d) of Schedule 1 to the Health Authorities Act 1995 (c. 17).

(3)
S.I. 1990/2024, as amended by S.I. 1990/2160, S.I. 1996/1755 and S.I. 1997/2990.

(4)
See paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to the Act.