10 Additional guidance should be developed by Partnerships for Health to help LIFTCo Boards manage potential conflicts of interest when senior individuals such as Chief Executives or Finance Directors from a Primary Care Trust are also appointed as a public sector director to the LIFTCo Board. Where an individual has such a dual role as Board member of the customer (Primary Care Trust) and supplier (LIFTCo) it is not prudent to rely solely on individual integrity to manage potential conflicts of interest. Partnerships for Health understandably want to secure suitably skilled candidates for the role of public sector director, and believe the benefits of appointing a senior, knowledgeable individual from the Primary Care Trust outweigh the potential difficulties that might ensue.
11 In the light of experience it now seems that the accountability framework of LIFT could usefully be strengthened. For example, members of the Strategic Partnering Board are all accountable to their parent organisations, but there is no one organisation holding the Board to account. It would be beneficial for the Department to establish principles and develop guidance defining responsibility for local oversight of the Strategic Partnering Board. The framework could also provide guidance encouraging Strategic Partnering Boards to define for each project who will act as the customer of the LIFTCo.