1.Section 191 adds, from 1 April 2013, four new categories of National Health Service (NHS) body to the list of bodies within the definition of Government departments which may claim refunds of the VAT they pay on certain goods and services.
2.The section amends section 41(7) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 to add the National Health Service Commissioning Board, clinical commissioning groups, the Health and Social Care Information Centre and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to the list of bodies to be regarded as persons exercising functions on behalf of a Minister of the Crown.
3.Section 41(3) provides that a Government department may claim a refund of the VAT it pays on certain goods and services, if and to the extent that the Treasury so directs. This is to ensure that VAT is not an obstacle to the contracting out of activities to the public and voluntary sectors.
4.Section 41(6) provides that “Government department” includes “any body of persons exercising functions on behalf of a Minister of the Crown”. For the purposes of subsection (6) bodies listed in subsection (7) are to be regarded as a body of persons exercising functions on behalf of a Minister of the Crown”.
5.The bodies named in section 41(7) are NHS bodies.
6.The Health and Social Care Act 2012 establishes the four new categories of NHS body referred to in the section.
7.This section ensures that the bodies referred to in the section may reclaim the VAT they pay on certain goods and services as provided for in section 41(3).