Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the investigation <i>General practice commissioning: in whose interests?</i> by <i>The Times</i> and the British Medical Journal, what assessment they have made of whether the conflict of interest guidelines are fulfilled by asking board members with a conflict of interest in an item under discussion during a board meeting to remain silent or leave the room.

NHS England is responsible for providing guidance to clinical commissioning groups on how to manage conflicts of interest.

The current guidance states that:

“Where certain members of a decision-making body have a material interest, they should either be excluded from relevant parts of meetings, or join in the discussion but not participate in the decision-making itself (i.e., not have a vote)….The chair of the meeting has responsibility for deciding whether there is a conflict of interest and the appropriate course of corresponding action.”

NHS England has commenced a review of the Conflicts of Interest Guidance, as part of a wider governance project to strengthen conflicts of interest management across the National Health Service, and this is expected to be published next year. NHS England will formally consult with a number of regulators and national partners in the development of this guidance.