Part 1: Health Service in England: Integration, Collaboration and Other Changes Joint Working and Delegation of Functions Schedule 9: References to functions: treatment of delegation arrangements etc
This Schedule makes amendments to various enactments as a result of the insertion into the NHS Act 2006 of new section 7B, new section 65Z5 and new section 275A.
	New sections 7B and 65Z5 create additional ways in which the functions of one person or body may be exercised by another. New section 7B enables the Secretary of State to direct NHS England or an integrated care board to exercise the Secretary of State’s public health functions, and new section 65Z5 enables a variety of bodies to arrange for another body to exercise their functions either for them, or jointly with them. These new provisions add to the power for the Secretary of State to make arrangements under section 7A for NHS England, a integrated care board, a combined authority or a local authority to exercise the Secretary of State’s public health functions ("section 7A arrangements"), and the existing power in section 75 for local authorities and NHS bodies to work jointly ("section 75 arrangements").
	This means that there is a need to revisit the provisions in the NHS Act 2006 and other primary legislation which state expressly that a reference to the functions of NHS England or an integrated care board include the exercise of public health functions of the Secretary of State delegated under section 7A arrangements. The new sections also affect provisions in the NHS Act 2006 and other legislation which include in a description of the public health functions of a local authority those functions which the local authority is exercising pursuant to section 7A arrangements.
	The amendments to descriptions of the functions of NHS England and integrated care boards in the NHS Act 2006 therefore generally adopt a broader approach, in reliance on new section 275A. The amendments include references to arrangements made "by virtue of" the NHS Act 2006, as opposed to "under" it, to reflect the fact that functions may have been delegated in one or more of the ways described above. The amendments to sections 73A – 73C, which deal with local authority public health functions, ensure that the public health functions of the Secretary of State which are being exercised by an authority pursuant to the delegation or sharing arrangements in sections 65Z5 or 75 are captured.
	The amendments to other primary legislation in this Schedule are generally intended to take a similarly broad approach to a description of the functions of NHS England or an integrated care board under the NHS Act 2006, or to services arranged pursuant to such functions. The substituted wording is intended to reflect the range of ways in which those bodies could be exercising functions on behalf of another. However, in certain cases it has been necessary or appropriate to make a specific reference to the routes by which functions may be delegated. See for example section 26 of the Local Government Act 1974, where the functions of the authority which may be subject to investigation by the local commissioner are expressed as including those public health functions of the Secretary of State which the authority may be exercising in pursuance of section 7A, 65Z5 or 75 arrangements.
	The amendment made to the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 is driven by the repeal of sections 13Z4(2) and (3) and 14Z24(2) and (3), and the new approach to functions in section 275A of the NHS Act 2006. It applies section 275A to sections 116 to 116B of the 2007 Act. Those sections deal with joint strategic needs assessments, which can include health needs that could be met through the exercise of the functions of NHS England and integrated care boards, and the amendment ensures that such functions would include delegated functions.