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Health Bill

My Lords, first, I shall deal with the points raised by the noble Earl, Lord Howe. I can assure the noble Earl that the draft regulations will be published very soon. The timescales, much further into the year, of which he may have been thinking, are probably not right. I cannot give him a precise date, but it will be very soon. It is worth reiterating that we have already announced many definitions here, as in Scotland, so that people can begin the planning work. I cannot give him—I suspect the noble Earl would not expect me to—a categoric assurance about July 2007; at present, I can say nothing more than the summer of 2007. We are talking to the industry about implementation, including dates. An announcement will be made as soon as possible, but I cannot go further than the position we have already reiterated. The summer of 2007 is the period that we have in mind. The noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, raised the issue of Clause 4. I believe I am a slightly misunderstood man. Earlier during Report stage, I put forward limitations on the provisions in Clause 4. I was asked, I merely happened to give some examples about the circumstances in which the regulations might be applied—I emphasise ““might be applied””. They would have to pass a significant risk test in the amendment that we put forward, so we have made Clause 4 more restrictive in its regulation-making capacity than was originally proposed. I was not expecting a great deal of thanks from the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, but I thought I should correct the record.