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Department of Health

With the leave of the House, I wish to reply to the debate. I thought that the Whips had more influence on the debate than they have. It was remiss of me not to say that the report was brought together and put before the House under the chairmanship of David Hinchliffe. Many hon. Members have said what I should have said at the beginning, but I shall say it now. David was a well-respected Chair of the Health Committee and I hope to be as helpful to the House and, on occasions, to our Front Benchers, as he was. I agreed earlier today to have lunch with David before Christmas and I will pass on everybody’s good wishes, as well as a copy of Hansard to digest along with his turkey and whatever else he has at Christmas. I thank the hon. Members for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) and for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor) who went to Australia on behalf of the Committee. They have been to Dublin with me, which may be a reflection on me as Chairman. They took part in a long investigation and I am pleased that they have been here this afternoon. My hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) mentioned all-party groups. Had this debate taken place six weeks ago, I would have had to declare that I was the chairman of the all-party group on the pharmaceutical industry, which I was for eight years. I gave that up because of the position I now hold, although I will remain a member. My hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West will know that the ABPI provides the secretariat of the all-party group. In all the years that I have had dealings with the ABPI, I never thought that it was trying to get me to come here and argue its case. If that is what it was after, it failed quite miserably in many areas. But over the years it has given me, and many other hon. Members of this House and the other place, the opportunity to discuss issues relating to the industry, whether animal testing or any of the other things that have happened. We were able to question it and the professionals involved on issues related to what is, and will always remain, I hope, a very important sector of the British economy and an industry that looks after the health of many hundreds of thousands of people. Over many years, as my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary said, the ABPI has played a key role between different Governments and the pharmaceutical industry, making sure that the industry remains a healthy part of the economy and at the forefront of European research and development.