PART 4HEALTH SCRUTINY BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Obtaining information and explanations27

1

Subject to paragraph (5), a local authority may require any member37 or employee38 of a responsible person to attend before the authority to answer such questions as appear to the authority to be necessary for discharging its relevant functions.

2

Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), it is the duty of any such member or employee to comply with any such requirement.

3

The local authority may not require a person to attend in accordance with paragraph (1) unless reasonable notice of the intended date of attendance has been given to that person.

4

Nothing in paragraph (1) requires any person to answer any question put to that person by the local authority—

a

to the extent that the answer requires the provision of information of a type specified in regulation 26(3) (unless within an exception under regulation 26(4) or (5)); or

b

if that person would be entitled to refuse to answer in, or for the purposes of, proceedings in a court in England and Wales.

5

A local authority may not require a member or employee of a responsible person to attend before it to answer questions in relation to—

a

a trust special administrator’s report or draft report under sections 65F or 65I of the 2006 Act;

b

a health special administration order under section 128 of the 2012 Act, or recommendations by a health special administrator on the action which should be taken in relation to a company subject to such an order.