Never again? The story of the Health and Social Care Act 2012

150 Pages·2012·4.11 MB·English

by  Nicholas Timmins

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© The King’s Fund and the Institute for Government 2012
First published 2012 by the Institute for Government
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ISBN: 978 1 85717 643 8
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Synopsis
‘Never Again?’ tells the story of how and why the Health and Social Care Act 2012 – by far
the most controversial piece of NHS legislation in more than two decades – became law.
It relates the story of a political thriller – from the legislation’s origins 20 years ago, through
the development of the 2010 white paper “Liberating the NHS” and the resultant bill; a bill
so controversial that it appeared at times as though the Government might lose it.
It does so from the view point of opponents and critics, but also from the point of view of
the man with whom this legislation is uniquely identified – the current health secretary.
On the way, it explains just what it was that Andrew Lansley was trying to do and why the
bill was so vast and controversial.
It details the events that shaped it – most notably the Coalition’s now partly forgotten
“programme for government”. That document – cooked up purely by the politicians in
Downing Street over 12 days immediately after the election in May 2010 – radically
reshaped the health secretary’s plans.
Sorting out the “disaster” in the “programme for government” turned what would
have been merely a large shift of power and accountability within the NHS into a
huge structural upheaval: one that allowed the reforms to be written up as the biggest
reorganisation in the 63-year history of the NHS; and one that could become this
Government’s “poll tax”.
‘Never Again?’, in particular, is a story of coalition government and coalition policy making.
The act is uniquely identified with Andrew Lansley, but without the Liberal Democrats it
would have been a very different bill. At the same time, without the Liberal Democrats,
there would have been much less fertile ground within government for opponents to sow
the seeds of their dissent. Without them, it would have undergone fewer amendments. And
yet, in another twist to the coalition tale, without Liberal Democrat votes the legislation
would not have passed.
‘Never Again?’ recounts:
• how Andrew Lansley was banned from talking about the detail of his plans ahead
of the election
• what happened at the meeting that called “the pause” on the legislation
• how Sir David Nicholson came to be appointed chief executive designate of the
NHS Commissioning Board
• how Andy Burnham revived the opposition to the bill
• and how the Coalition finessed its legislation through the House of Lords.
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‘Never Again?’ also seeks to draw some early lessons from what is widely regarded as a
“car crash” of both politics and policy making. But at the same time it explains why the
health secretary believes that never again – or at least for the foreseeable future – will the
NHS need to undergo another big structural change and raises the possibility that Andrew
Lansley could yet emerge as something of a hero of public sector reform.
About the author
Nicholas Timmins is a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and the King’s Fund.
Between 1996 and 2011 he was public policy editor of the Financial Times. He is also a
visiting professor in social policy at the London School of Economics, and at King’s College,
London in public management. He is a senior associate of the Nuffield Trust.
Frontispiece design by Jon Twin at The Bowyer Press
[email protected].
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Foreword
Never Again?
The first two years of coalition government in the UK have been dominated by the
economy, deficit reduction – and the reform of the NHS. The first two were well trailed
before the election. But few expected an argument about “top-down reorganisation” of the
NHS to dominate the political debate.
The Health and Social Care Act merits attention as a case study of policy making and
coalition government. It is also an important milestone in the history of NHS reform –
not least since one of the reasons for Andrew Lansley’s full frontal approach was to put
the NHS changes onto a more permanent basis – where they could only be undone by
legislation, not secretary of state fiat. That is why Institute for Government and the King’s
Fund asked Nicholas Timmins to produce a “first draft of history”.
Here Nick tells the story to date – judgements, as Nick says, will need to wait for the
outcome of the reforms. The Institute for Government’s work on policy making suggests
that good policy has to get the right blend of technocracy and politics. Even at this
juncture, it is clear that the NHS reforms have required the Government to expend a huge
amount of political capital to get the bill through and lose public confidence on an issue
that was crucial to David Cameron’s detoxification of the Conservative party. Whether or
not the act succeeds in its objectives, there was a failure to get the politics right.
The case study looks at how that came about. It brings out important lessons on policy
making in opposition, preparation for government, on the dangers of rushing out policy
announcements during the first hectic period of transition into office and the particular
challenges of coalition government, which are all themes that the Institute has studied.
It also sheds important light on the inner workings of the Government in a key policy
area – on the role of Number 10, the Treasury and the Centre. The separate Institute for
Government commentary goes into those wider lessons in greater depth.
The King’s Fund warned early on that the reforms were going “too far, too fast”. Nick’s
account of the process of reforms confirms that the Government was in a rush, motivated
by a concern to avoid New Labour’s self-confessed mistake of failing to be bold in its first
term. In the event, speed was at the expense of engagement, leading to a rising crescendo
of opposition that led the prime minister to introduce a pause in the passage of the bill
through parliament in order to listen and respond to the concerns of stakeholders. How
far the subsequent amendments to the bill amount to substantial changes or cosmetic
revisions remains a matter of debate. What is clear is that the pace of reform continues
unabated, creating major challenges as the NHS seeks to achieve efficiency savings on a
level unprecedented in its history.
The impact of the reforms will depend as much on how they are implemented as on the
provisions of the Health and Social Care Act. In the detailed debate on the wording of the
legislation, the importance of implementation was neglected and yet history shows the
many opportunities for the intentions of radical reformers to be altered and distorted as
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they are carried into action. The NHS has proved to be remarkably resilient in the face of
efforts by successive governments to make major changes in how it is run and there is no
reason to expect things to be different this time round. Lessons about policy making need
to be married with lessons about implementation, and The King’s Fund will be playing its
part in analysing the impact during the remainder of this parliament.
Peter Riddell Chris Ham
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“The history that happens underneath our noses ought to be the
clearest, and yet it is the most deliquescent.”
Julian Barnes
“If one day subsequent generations find you cannot make
commissioning work, then we have been barking up the wrong tree
for the last 20 years.”
Kenneth Clarke, former Conservative health secretary, speaking at 60th anniversary
of the NHS in 2008
“Labour secretaries of state have got away with introducing private
sector providers into the NHS on a scale which would have led the
Labour Party onto the streets in demonstration if a Conservative
government had ever tried it. In the late 1980s I would have said
it is politically impossible to do what we are now doing. I strongly
approve.”
Ibid1
“You cannot encapsulate in one or two sentences the main thrust of
this.”
Simon Burns, minister of state for health, March 20122
1 Rejuvenate or retire? View of the NHS at 60, Nuffield Trust, 2008
2 The Report, BBC Radio 4, 22 March 2012
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