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Primary Care Trusts and Ambulance Trusts

I am grateful for another bouquet from the Back Benches, but, before I am accused of being a fraud for accepting them, I must point out that many people in my Department have been working on the proposals. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, Moorlands (Charlotte Atkins) has been in close discussions with people in the Department—I am, perhaps, the only person who has not been in detailed discussions with her, so it is not right for me to accept all the congratulations, which I shall relay to the rest of the Department. She knows health issues in detail—I have worked with her on other matters—and I know how passionately she believes in the health service in her area. She has run a good campaign and has expressed her concerns extremely well. We have said that a merger should be the eventual goal, and I am happy to give her the assurances that she seeks on the operating structures of the two services. My noble Friend Lord Warner will judge those issues, but it makes sense to have agreement in the region when any further change is made to the structure.