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This is the story of how a group of senior civil servants in the Scottish Home and Health Department (SHHD) circumvented the Act of Parliament which had provided for the setting up, in 1974, of the Scottish Health Service Planning Council (SHSPC) and the National Consultative Committees of the health professions in Scotland (NCCs). No sooner had the relevant Act reached the Statute Book than there was a furious burst of back-pedalling in SHHD. In terms of the Act, SHSPC has a two-fold remit, namely: To advise the Secretary of State on the exercise of his functions under the Act, either at his request or on its own initiative; for the purpose of performing its duty under the Act, to keep under review the development of the NHS in Scotland as a whole and in the various parts of Scotland.