Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
1st Report – Health Bill 2026–27
Health and Social Care Committee
HC 219
Published 12 June 2026
Recommendations
2
We recommend that the statutory requirement for ICBs to have at least one member jointly...
Recommendation
We recommend that the statutory requirement for ICBs to have at least one member jointly nominated by local authorities be retained. (Recommendation, Paragraph 8)
Department of Health and Social Care
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4
We recommend that the Health Bill be amended to require the Secretary of State to...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Health Bill be amended to require the Secretary of State to review the effective use of Section 75 of the NHS Act 2006, and to produce guidance to support NHS bodies and local authorities making use …
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Department of Health and Social Care
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9
We recommend that the Secretary of State’s duties in relation to health inequalities in clause...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Secretary of State’s duties in relation to health inequalities in clause 4 of the bill be strengthened and that all ministers should be under a duty to consider how policies they enact might contribute to or …
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Department of Health and Social Care
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Conclusions (6)
1
Conclusion
In our Palliative Care report, we urged the government to reconsider its decision to remove local authority representation on ICBs. We remain convinced that removing their representation from ICBs is a damaging move that will undermine the government’s efforts to shift treatment into the community and deliver a more integrated …
3
Conclusion
We believe that this bill is a missed opportunity for the government to either reform and promote the use of section 75 arrangements, or to provide an alternative mechanism that it believes is more effective in addressing the challenges funding flows present to the integration of health and care service …
5
Conclusion
We continue to believe that achieving parity of esteem between physical and mental health requires sustained investment in mental health services and recommend that meeting, rather than just reporting on, the Mental Health Investment Standard should be a statutory requirement on ICBs. (Recommendation, Paragraph 18)
6
Conclusion
We welcome the duty that the bill places on the Secretary of State to involve the public in the planning of commissioning arrangements. However, it is unclear to us from the language in the bill whether this would go as far as requiring service users to be involved in the …
7
Conclusion
As the Health Bill makes provision about the duties of integrated care boards (ICBs), it provides an ideal vehicle to provide a level playing field between education bodies and ICBs, so that ICBs are also under a legal obligation to comply with recommendations from SEND Tribunals. (Conclusion, Paragraph 25)
8
Conclusion
Health inequalities represent a serious and continuing injustice across the country. The almost 20-year gap in healthy life expectancy between different parts of the country is morally unacceptable. While the government has set out the right vision for a cross government mission to tackle health inequalities we do not think …