(1)This section applies if the Secretary of State considers that Monitor is failing, or has failed, to perform any function of Monitor’s, other than a function it has by virtue of section 72 or 73, and that the failure is significant.
(2)The Secretary of State may direct Monitor to perform such of those functions, and in such manner and within such period, as the direction specifies.
(3)But the Secretary of State may not give a direction under subsection (2) in relation to the performance of functions in a particular case.
(4)If Monitor fails to comply with a direction under subsection (2), the Secretary of State may—
(a)perform the functions to which the direction relates, or
(b)make arrangements for some other person to perform them on the Secretary of State’s behalf.
(5)Where the Secretary of State exercises a power under subsection (2) or (4), the Secretary of State must publish the reasons for doing so.
(6)For the purposes of this section—
(a)a failure to perform a function includes a failure to perform it properly, and
(b)a failure to perform a function properly includes a failure to perform it consistently with what the Secretary of State considers to be the interests of the health service in England or (as the case may be) with what otherwise appears to the Secretary of State to be the purpose for which it is conferred; and “the health service” has the same meaning as in the National Health Service Act 2006.