Commentary on Sections Functions: quality standards Section 234 - Quality standards
1378.This section sets out the process for how the NHS Commissioning Board or the Secretary of State may commission NICE to develop quality standards for the provision of NHS, public health or social care services and the status accorded to the finished product.
1379.The Secretary of State and the NHS Commissioning Board are required to have regard to the quality standards in discharging their ‘improvement duties’ in relation to the health service (see new section 1A and new section 13E inserted in to the NHS Act by Part 1 of the Act). The Secretary of State or the NHS Commissioning Board is responsible for framing the remit of each quality standard, but cannot determine the content. A quality standard has statutory effect once it has been endorsed by the person who commissioned it (the Secretary of State or the Board). NICE has a duty to establish a process for the preparation of quality standards through consultation with interested parties. Responsibility for adult social care rests with the Department of Health and responsibility for children's social care rests with Department for Education. The Secretary of State in this context will be able to commission social care quality standards across all age groups.