700.This section gives power to the Secretary of State to direct Monitor as to the performance of its functions, when he considers that Monitor is failing, or has failed, to perform its functions properly, or at all, and that the failure is significant. Failure to perform a function properly will include failure to perform that function consistently with what the Secretary of State considers to be in the interests of the health service (subsection (6)(b)). It is intended that this power would only be used in exceptional circumstances. Similar powers of intervention are included in the Act for other non-Departmental bodies including the Care Quality Commission and the NHS Commissioning Board. The Secretary of State can direct Monitor to perform those functions. When exercising that power, the Secretary of State must publish the reasons for doing so. However, the Secretary of State may not, under subsection (2), intervene with regard to Monitor’s performance of its functions in individual cases. Where Monitor fails to comply with such a direction, the Secretary of State may carry out the functions in question, or make arrangements for some other person to perform them on the Secretary of State’s behalf.
701.This section does not apply to Monitor’s functions under sections 72 and 73. This means that the Secretary of State cannot intervene to perform concurrent functions under the Competition Act 1998 or the Enterprise Act 2002, including undertaking investigations or enforcement action in individual cases.