S.I. No. 213/1996 - The Health Service Employers Agency (Establishment) Order, 1996.

S.I. No. 213 of 1996.

THE HEALTH SERVICE EMPLOYERS AGENCY (ESTABLISHMENT) ORDER, 1996.

The Minister for Health in exercise of the powers conferred on him by Sections 3 to 6 of the Health (Corporate) Bodies Act, 1961 (No. 27 of 1961), hereby orders as follows:—

1. This Order may be cited as the Health Service Employers Agency (Establishment) Order, 1996.

2. In thisOrder -

"the Agency" means the Health Service Employers Agency established by this Order;

"the "Chairman" means the Chairman for the time being of the Agency;

"Health Service Employer" means any Health Board, any Public Voluntary Hospital or any other body corporate admitted to membership of the Agency by the Board of the Agency;

"the Minister" means "the Minister for Health".

3. A body to be known as the Health Service Employers Agency is hereby established.

4. The functions of the Agency in relation to Health Service Employers are as follows:—

(i) To promote value for money in pay cost management;

(ii) To promote and support efficiency and effectiveness in employment practices consistent with changing service and operational requirements;

(iii) To support, and where appropriate, represent Health Service Employers in the management of industrial relations with particular reference to national level issues relating to pay and conditions of employment;

(iv) To develop appropriate research, educational and informational initiatives to assist personnel management.

5. The Board of the Agency shall consist of not more than nine persons appointed by the Minister of which:—

(i) two members shall be appointed on the nomination of the Chief Executive Officers of the Health Boards;

(ii) two members shall be appointed on the nomination of the Voluntary Hospitals which are members of the Agency;

(iii) two members shall be appointed who shall be officers of the Department of Health.

6. The Board of the Agency shall appoint from among its members a Chairman who shall hold office for one year unless he or she sooner ceases to be a member of the Board or the Board appoints another person to be Board Chairman.

7. The term of office of a member of the Board shall be such period not exceeding three years as may be specified by the Minister when appointing him or her and he or she shall hold office for the period for which he or she is appointed unless he or she dies or resigns by letter addressed to the Minister or ceases to be a member in accordance with article 8 of this Order.

8. A member shall cease to be a member on being requested to resign by the Minister.

9. The quorum of the Board shall be four.

10. The Board shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the performance of its functions.

11. The proceedings of the Board shall not be invalidated by any vacancy or vacancies among its members or by any defect in the appointment of the Board or any member thereof.

12. The Chairman may at any time call a meeting of the Board.

(1) If the Chairman refuses to call a meeting of the Board, after a requisition for the purpose signed by three members of the Board has been presented to him, any four members of the Board may forthwith on that refusal call a meeting of the Board and if the Chairman (without so refusing) does not within seven days after the presentation of the requisition call a meeting of the Board, any three members, on expiration of these seven days, may call a meeting of the Board.

(2) At a meeting of the Board -

(i) the Chairman shall, if he or she is present, be Chairman of the meeting;

(ii) if and so long as the Chairman is not present the members of the Board who are present shall choose one of their number to be Chairman of the meeting or the next ensuing meeting.

13. (1) The names of the members present at a meeting of the Board shall be recorded in the minutes of the proceedings of the Board.

(2) The names of the members voting on any question arising at a meeting of the Board shall be recorded in the minutes of the proceedings of the meeting and the record shall show which members vote for and against the question.

14. Members of the Board may be paid travelling and subsistence allowances in accordance with such scale as may from time to time be approved by the Minister.

15. (1) All acts of the Board and all questions coming or arising before the Board may be done and decided by the majority of such members of the Board as are present and vote at the meeting of the Board.

(2) The Board may appoint to any committee persons who have special knowledge and experience related to the purpose of the committee.

(3) Any committee so appointed shall act subject to such directives as may be given by the Board and any expenditure of monies by such committee shall be subject to the approval of the Board.

16. The seal of the Agency shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman or some other member of the Board of the Agency duly authorised by the Board to act on its behalf and the signature of an officer of the Agency duly authorised by the Board of the Agency to act on its behalf.

17. (1) The Agency shall cause to be kept in such form as may be approved from time to time by the Minister, proper accounts of all income and expenditure of the Agency and of the sources of such income and of the subject matter of such expenditure and of the assets and liabilities of the Agency.

(2) The financial year of the Agency shall be the period of twelve months ending on the 31st December in any year and for the purposes of this provision the period commencing on the date of this Order and ending on 31st December, 1996 shall be deemed to be a financial year.

(3) The annual financial statements of the Agency for each year shall be prepared in accordance with any accounting standards which may be laid down by the Minister. The annual financial statements shall be prepared within three months of the end of the previous year for submission to the Comptroller and Auditor General and the audit of these annual financial statements shall be carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General in accordance with section 5 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993 .

(4) The expenses generally of such audit shall be paid by the Agency as soon as may be after each audit.

(5) Submission and presentation of the annual financial statements and auditor's report(s) thereon shall be carried out in accordance with section 11 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act, 1993 .

(6) The Board of the Agency and the officers thereof shall, whenever so requested by the Minister, permit any person appointed by him to examine the books and accounts of the Agency in respect of any financial year or other period and shall facilitate any such examination, and the Agency shall pay such fee therefor as may be fixed by the Minister.

18. (1) The Agency shall in each year, not later than such date as the Minister may direct, make a general report of its activities during the preceding year and shall submit a copy of the report to the Minister.

(2) The Agency shall submit to the Minister such reports regarding the performance of its functions as the Minister may require.

(3) The Agency may publish reports relevant to its functions, subject to the prior approval of the Minister, and in accordance with such directions in that regard as the Minister may from time to time stipulate.

19. The Agency, with the approval of the Minister, may charge fees, in respect of services provided by the Agency.

20. (1) The expenses of the Agency, in so far as not met from other sources, shall be met by members of the Agency in such proportion as may be approved by the Board.

(2) In default of payment by an employer the amount involved may be deducted from any monies payable to that employer by the Minister for any purpose whatsoever and shall be paid to the Agency by the Minister.

21. (1) The Agency may, with the consent of the Minister, appoint such and so many employees as the Agency may from time to time think proper and in appointing any employee the Agency shall comply with any directions given by the Minister.

(2) Every employee of the Agency holding office in a permanent capacity shall cease to hold office on attaining the age of sixty-five years.

(3) The Agency shall, with the consent of the Minister, determine the remuneration and conditions of service of each employee.

(4) The Agency shall assign such duties as it considers appropriate from time to time to each employee of the Agency and each such employee shall perform the duties so assigned to him/her.

(5) The Minister may, whenever and so often as he or she thinks fit, declare that any of the powers conferred on the Agency by this article shall be exercisable only with the consent of the Minister, and whenever any such declaration is in force, the said powers may, in relation to any office or employment to which the declaration applies, be exercised only with such consent.

(6) Schemes and Regulations made under the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1980 (No. 8 of 1980) shall apply to the staff of the Agency appointed in a permanent capacity as if it were a Health Board.

22. For the purpose of the performance of its functions, the Agency, with the consent of the Minister, may:—

(1) borrow money;

(2) sell, exchange, let or otherwise dispose of any land or other property vested in it and, purchase or take on lease any land or other property;

(3) make arrangements with another person or body for the use by the Agency of premises or equipment belonging to that person or body or for the use by the Agency of the services of employees of that person or body;

(4) may accept gifts of money, land and other property upon such trusts and conditions, if any, as may be specified by the donor, other than in circumstances where the conditions attached by the donor to its acceptance are not consistent with the functions of the Agency.

23. This Order shall come into effect on the 15th day of July 1996.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the

Minister for Health this 12th

day of July, 1996.

MICHAEL NOONAN

____________________

MINISTER FOR HEALTH

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the Health Service Employers Agency (Establishment) Order, 1996

Dated 12 July, 1996.

RUAIRI QUINN

____________________

MINISTER FOR FINANCE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The effect of this Order is to establish under the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act, 1961 , a body to be known as the Health Services Employers Agency to provide such services as may be required by those employers in membership of the Agency.