Commentary on Sections Arrangements for provision of health services Section 12 – Duties as to improvement of public health
129.This section concerns the duties and powers of the Secretary of State and of local authorities in relation to the improvement of public health. Improving health could include smoking cessation or weight loss services, for example, or the provision of advice and information to help people who want to adopt healthier behaviour.
130.The section inserts a new section 2B into the NHS Act. The new section gives certain local authorities a duty to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the people who live in their areas, and gives the Secretary of State the power to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the people of England. The nature of the duty is that if a local authority considers a step appropriate to improve public health, they must take that step under the new provision, even if the activity had previously been carried out under other local authority powers. The local authorities who are subject to the duty are defined in subsection (5) – primarily county councils, London borough councils and unitary authorities (district councils where there is no county council). District councils in counties with a county council are not subject to the duty. This definition of local authority is also applied elsewhere in the Act.
131.Subsection (3) of the new section lists some of the steps to improve public health that local authorities and the Secretary of State would be able to take. These include providing information and advice (for example giving information to the public about healthy eating and exercise), providing facilities for the prevention or treatment of illness (such as smoking cessation clinics), providing financial incentives to encourage individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles (for instance by giving rewards to people for stopping smoking during pregnancy), and providing assistance to help individuals minimise risks to health arising from their accommodation or environment (for example a local authority may wish to improve poor housing where this impacts on health).
132.Subsection (4) provides that the steps which local authorities may take include making grants or lending money to organisations or individuals - for example, voluntary sector organisations – when that would be an appropriate way of using resources to improve public health. For example, a local authority could choose to make a grant to an organisation that offered tailored health promotion advice to a particular minority ethnic community. The Secretary of State has existing grant-making powers that will continue (section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968).