Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

Health Act 1999 partnership arrangements

The Health Act 1999 provides an enabling framework so that money can be pooled between health bodies and health-related local authority services, and resources and management structures can be integrated.

The arrangements, which have been in use since April 2000, allow for the joining-up of commissioning for existing or new services and similarly for the development of provider arrangements.

The arrangements are commonly referred to as Section 31 Health Act flexibilities:

- Lead Commissioning
- Integrated Provision
- Pooled Budgets

Section 31 of the Health Act 1999 has now been repealed and replaced, for England, by section 75 of the National Health Service Act 2006, which has consolidated NHS legislation.

The new provision is in exactly the same terms and existing section 31 arrangements will continue as if made under the new powers.  Any new partnership arrangements should refer to the new powers rather than to section 31.

Additional links

Adobe Reader

Get Adobe® Reader® free software for viewing and printing Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Help viewing PDFs

Help viewing PDFs

Useful tips to ensure you get the most from PDFs and the free Reader program. Topics covered include accessibility, troubleshooting and searching files.

Access keys