Competition
The 2012 Act gave Monitor (now operating as NHS Improvement) and the Competition and Markets Authority ("the CMA") formal roles to provide regulatory oversight of competition issues within the NHS. Monitor was given a concurrent duty to promote competition in the NHS, while it was clarified that the CMA had specific functions to investigate mergers between NHS Foundation Trusts. The CMA was also given a role in investigating contested licence conditions should significant numbers of providers object to them.
	The NHS Long Term Plan 2019 called for a stronger emphasis on collaboration between organisations and a less central role for competition in the system.
	The Act removes Monitor’s competition functions rather than moving them to NHS England as part of the merger, to allow NHS England to focus more on improvement in the quality of care and use of NHS resources, and on the development of integrated care.
	The Act also removes the CMA’s ability to review NHS foundation trust mergers. Instead, NHS England, as the national body responsible for the NHS, will review mergers of NHS providers to ensure they are in the best interests of patients and the taxpayer.
	The Act removes Monitor’s ability to refer contested licence conditions and tariff prices to the CMA. Instead, NHS England will make its own decisions on how to operate the licensing regime and the NHS Payment Scheme, in consultation with local leaders.
	The CMA will retain its other functions in relation to regulating competition, such as within the private healthcare market, and within General Practice.