PART 2Contractors: conditions and eligibility

General condition relating to all contracts 6

1

The Local Health Board must not enter into a contract with—

a

a medical practitioner to whom paragraph (2) applies,

b

two or more persons practising in partnership, where paragraph (2) applies to any person who is a partner in the partnership, or

c

a company limited by shares where paragraph (2) applies to—

i

the company,

ii

any person legally or beneficially owning a share in the company, or

iii

any director or secretary of the company.

2

This paragraph applies if—

a

the person is the subject of a national disqualification;

b

subject to paragraph (3), the person is disqualified or suspended (other than by interim suspension order or direction pending an investigation) from practising by any licensing body anywhere in the world;

c

the person has, within the 5 years before either the signing of the contract or commencement of the contract (whichever is the earlier), been dismissed (otherwise than by reason of redundancy) from any employment by a health service body, unless—

i

if the person was employed as a member of a health care profession at the time of the dismissal, the person has subsequently been employed by that health service body or by another health service body, and

ii

the dismissal was the subject of a finding of unfair dismissal by any competent tribunal or a court;

d

the person has, within the 5 years before either the signing of the contract or commencement of the contract (whichever is the earlier), been removed from, or refused admission to, a primary care list by reason of inefficiency, fraud or unsuitability (within the meaning of section 107(2), (3) or (4) of the Act (disqualification of practitioners)), or a performers list held by the Local Health Board by virtue of regulation made under section 49(3) (persons performing primary medical services) of the Act, unless the person’s name has been subsequently been included in such a list;

e

the person has been convicted in the United Kingdom of murder;

f

the person has been convicted in the United Kingdom of a criminal offence other than murder committed on or after 14 December 2001 and has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of longer than 6 months;

g

subject to paragraph (3), the person has been convicted outside the United Kingdom of an offence which would, if committed in England and Wales, constitute murder and—

i

the offence was committed on or after 26 August 2002, and

ii

the person was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of longer than 6 months;

h

the person has been convicted of an offence, referred to in Schedule 1 to the Children and Young Persons Act 193340 (offences against children and young persons, with respect to which special provisions of this Act apply), or in Schedule 1 to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 199541 (offences against children under the age of 17 years of to which special provisions apply), committed on or after 1 March 2004;

i

the person has at any time been included in—

i

any barred list within the meaning of section 2 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 200642 (barred lists), or

ii

any barred list within the meaning of Article 6 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 200743(barred lists),

unless the person was removed from the list either on the grounds that it was not appropriate for the person to have been included in it or as the result of a successful appeal;

j

the person has, within the period of 5 years before either the signing of the contract or commencement of the contract (whichever is the earlier), been removed from the office of charity trustee or trustee for a charity by an order made by the Charity Commission, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland or the High Court, and that order was made on the grounds of misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of a charity for which the person was responsible or to which the person was privy, or which was contributed to, or facilitated by, the person’s conduct;

k

the person has, within the 5 years before either the date of the signing of the contract or the commencement of the contract (whichever is the earlier), been removed from being concerned with the management or control of any body in a case where the removal was by virtue of section 34(5)(e) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 200544 (powers of Court of Session);

l

the person—

i

has been made bankrupt and has not been discharged from the bankruptcy or the bankruptcy order has not been annulled, or

ii

has had sequestration of the person’s estate awarded and has not been discharged from the sequestration;

m

the person is the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or an interim bankruptcy restrictions order under Schedule 4A to the Insolvency Act 198645 (bankruptcy restrictions order and undertaking), Schedule 2A to the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 198946 (bankruptcy restrictions order and undertaking), or sections 56A to 56K of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 198547 (bankruptcy restrictions order, interim bankruptcy restrictions order and bankruptcy restrictions undertaking), unless the person has been discharged from that order or that order has been annulled;

n

the person—

i

is subject to moratorium period under a debt relief order under Part VIIA of the Insolvency Act 198648 (debt relief orders), or

ii

is the subject of a debt relief restrictions order or an interim debt relief restrictions order under Schedule 4ZB to the Insolvency Act 198649 (debt relief restrictions orders and undertakings);

o

the person has made a composition agreement or arrangement with, or granted a trust deed for, the person’s creditors and the person has not been discharged in respect of it;

p

the person is subject to—

i

a disqualification order under section 1 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 198650 (disqualification orders: general) or a disqualification undertaking under section 1A of that Act51 (disqualification undertakings: general),

ii

a disqualification order or disqualification undertaking under article 3 (disqualification orders: general) or Article 4 (disqualification undertakings: general) of the Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 200252, or

iii

a disqualification order under section 429(2) of the Insolvency Act 198653 (disabilities on revocation of an administration order against an individual);

q

the person has had an administrator, administrative receiver or receiver appointed in respect of them;

r

the person has had an administration order made in respect of the contractor under Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 198654 (administration); or

s

the contractor is a partnership and—

i

a dissolution of the partnership is ordered by any competent court, tribunal or arbitrator, or

ii

an event happens that makes it unlawful for the business of the partnership to continue, or for members of the partnership to carry on in partnership.

3

Paragraph (2)(b) or, as the case may be, paragraph (2)(g), does not apply to a person where—

a

that person—

i

has been disqualified or suspended from practising by a licensing body outside of the United Kingdom, or

ii

has been convicted of a criminal offence outside of the United Kingdom, and

b

the Local Health Board is satisfied that the disqualification, suspension or, as the case may be, the conviction does not make that person unsuitable to be—

i

a contractor,

ii

a partner, in the case of a contract with two or more persons practising in partnership, or

iii

in the case of a company limited by shares—

aa

a person who legally or beneficially owns a share in the company, or

bb

a director or secretary of the company.

4

For the purposes of paragraph (2)(c), where a person has been employed as a member of a health care profession, any subsequent employment must also be as a member of that profession.

5

In this regulation, “contractor” includes a person with whom the Local Health Board is proposing to enter into a contract with.