1. Secondary Legislation - Seeking your views on the issues
Local Healthwatch
Secondary Legislation
- Seeking your views on the issues

2. Local Healthwatch secondary legislation – seeking your views on the issues
The background to regulations
The regulations for local Healthwatch are important, as they provide the detail that sits behind the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
In order to enable local Healthwatch to understand some of the “rules” for operating within the legal framework, we need to make sure that the regulations provide for this.
How will the engagement process work?
We need to have a conversation with you, as Healthwatch stakeholders, to explain why we are making these regulations, and giving you the opportunity to identify, discuss and work through the issues you think are important to consider in developing the policy for this.
This will be conducted in two ways:
we will be holding focused meetings with groups that have particular expertise in certain areas;
we will also be giving the wider population the chance to join the dialogue online through a series of webchats.
The engagement period will run from mid-April to mid-June; the results of which will help to inform the policy, in turn influencing the regulations.

3. Local Healthwatch secondary legislation – seeking your views on the issues
Need more information?
In order to contextualise this engagement, you may wish to use the links below to access the relevant legislation:
2008 LINks regulations
Health and Social Care Act 2012
Explanatory notes:

4. Summary of the issues… 6. Duty to allow entry to LHW
Issues arising around the regulations for LHW
1. Who can a local authority contract to become LHW?
2. The contract between local authority and LHW
3. Contracts between LHW and its subcontractors
4. Service providers: responding to reports, recommendations or information requests from LHW
5. Referrals to scrutiny committees
6. Duty to allow entry to LHW
7. Content of LHW annual reports
8. Transfer Schemes

5. Issue One Who can a local authority contract to become LHW?
What falls within the scope of a “social enterprise”?
What would you like to be seen included in the definition of a “social enterprise”?
For what reason would a body corporate be unsuitable to become the local Healthwatch?

6. The contract between local authority and LHW
Issue Two
The contract between local authority and LHW
What has and has not worked well in the contract between the local authority and the host/ LINk?
Are there any things in particular that should be added into the contract between the local authority and local Healthwatch?
Add some e.gs …

7. Issue Three Contracts between LHW and its subcontractors
Are there LHW functions that a subcontractor should not be able to undertake?
Should a LHW subcontractor be able to use the LHW logo and trademark?
How would you suggest that the LHW subcontractors help fulfil the LHW duty to be representative as a “whole” of its community?

8. Issue Four
Services-providers: responding to reports, recommendations or information requests from LHW
The current rule is that services-providers have to respond in 20 working days to LINk reports and recommendations: in your experience has this worked?
What issues have arisen from information requests to services-providers?

9. Issue Five Referrals to scrutiny committees
What has worked well about the provisions for a LINk to refer matters to an Overview and Scrutiny Committee?
What has not worked well?
Are there ways in which the process may need to be different for LHW?

10. Issue Six Duty to allow entry to LHW
Has the duty to allow entry for LINks been successful?
What have been the barriers to the success of this power?
Has the exclusion on entry to children’s social care environments impacted LINks’ success at providing a voice for children?
If the exclusion were removed, in what circumstances would boundaries still need to be drawn?

11. Issue Seven Content of LHW annual reports
What has worked well about the LINks annual reports that you would wish to see continued for LHW?
What has not worked well, and you would wish to change for LHW?

12. Transfer Schemes Issue Eight
Do you feel it is necessary to create a transfer scheme?
If so, what should be included in it? E.g. intellectual property

13. Next Steps…
Continuing the conversation with other stakeholders and experts in the field
Holding more seminars; facilitating online discussions (see factsheet for more details)
Any further questions? Get in touch with us via