01.07.15
So much devolution, so little change
The recent news that the health secretary will have the power to overturn devolved decisions on health and social care made by Greater Manchester raises many questions: namely, why are we doing this?
There seems to be little point to all the fuss and expense of devolution if overall power for decisions remains in the same hands.
The whole reasoning of putting power in the hands of regions is so that those closest to the areas and most knowledgeable about their needs can make informed decisions to drive improvements for the local population – as the needs of Manchester are not necessarily going to be the needs of Devon, which is not easy to take into account in national commissioning.
But if ultimate power rests in the hands of the same person it always has – who has no specialist knowledge of that local area – then what is the point?
The health secretary can’t claim to know more about what Greater Manchester needs then the collective knowledge of the councils, CCGs, HWBs, combined authority and NHS England – so why should he be able to overrule the collective decision those bodies reach?
As Lord Woolmer of Leeds said in the debate: “It is not a question of whether they have made a mistake or done something wrong, but of local choice. The minister talked about a bad decision. To say that a local decision is a bad decision because it differs from a view that the secretary of state takes does not seem to me to be in the spirit of devolution.”
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