Seminar: Taking stock of NHS governance after the 2013 reforms: Public procurement, competition and conflicts of interest in NHS commissioning

Timings: 09:00 to 17:00

Location: Armada House, Telephone Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4BQ 

University of Bristol Law School, with the generous sponsorship of PolicyBristol and Bevan Brittan, and supported by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research.

This event has two main objectives. First, it intends to bring together CCGs, NHS Trusts, legal practitioners and academics, so that we can collectively take stock of this aspect of the new NHS governance framework almost 3 years after its adoption. Secondly, and more specifically, it aims to explore issues of interaction between public procurement and competition rules in relation to potential conflicts of interest in NHS commissioning. This exploration should allow for the emergence of some initial lessons-learned, as well as help shape research agendas in this area of public governance, which will undoubtedly gain relevance over the coming years.

The panel of academic and practitioner experts that will participate in the event include:

• Mr Robert Breedon (Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co)
• Ms Sarah Carr (Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group)
• Ms Mary Guy (University of East Anglia)
• Ms Alena Kozakova (Frontier Economics)
• Dr Okeoghene Odudu (University of Cambridge)
• Mr David Owens (Bevan Brittan)
• Dr Albert Sanchez-Graells (University of Bristol)
• Mr Andrew Taylor (Aldwych Partners)

Through interaction of experts and participants, in particular, the event aims to:

1. Assess how the sectoral rules created by the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and. Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 compare with general regimes applicable to conflicts of interest under public procurement and competition law.
2. Explore the implications for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS Trusts of any potential discrepancies between the sectoral regime and general public procurement and competition rules, with a particular focus on the remedies that can be enforced against them, which in turn determine their operational risks and potential liabilities.
3. Assess the need for any further reforms of the system once the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 become applicable to health care sector in April 2016.

Thus, this event aims to clarify the current and future public procurement and competition law constraints on NHS commissioning activities, as well as to facilitate knowledge exchange between CCGs, NHS Trusts, academics and legal practitioners in this field of economic law of increasing relevance.

The event is divided in two parts. The morning sessions, consisting presentations be leading academics and solicitors, are open to all, and in particular to academics, PhD students and legal practitioners. The afternoon sessions are reserved for a workshop on practical issues and future challenges is reserved to CCG and NHS Trust members only. This workshop follows up on the discussions held in the morning sessions. It is intended to provide a time for CCG and NHS Trust practitioners to brainstorm and exchange ideas on the main practical issues and future challenges for NHS Commissioning under the combined application of 2013 Regulations 2013 and the PCR 2015 to the tendering of NHS contracts.

Overall, then, this event aims to facilitate knowledge exchange between CCGs, NHS Trusts, academics and legal practitioners in this field of economic law of increasing relevance. For further details, please contact the organiser: Dr Albert Sanchez-Graells, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Bristol Law School (a.sanchez-graells@bristol.ac.uk).