Health ministry vets board appointees on union membership, political views

People seeking appointment to any of the dozens of professional standards authorities, ethics committees or other boards overseen by the Ministry of Health will now need to disclose their union and political party memberships and any strong personal views they may have related to the topic at hand.
The scope of potential conflicts of interest sought by the ministry from applicants was widened in a September update to the declaration of interests form, which Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said has gone too far.