---

Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

The Minister said that it is right to address these complicated matters through regulations. We should accept that this Bill has come too early; it would be right to address the matters fully. What a pity it is that the Bill arrived in an incomplete form—in some parts, we object very much to the form and in other parts it is incomplete. The noble Lord, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, looked as if he wanted to say something on this; no, he does not. On the Minister’s answer to the question that I would have asked about consultation, can she say anything about the timetable and when the regulations might be seen in draft? Do the Government intend that the provisions, through regulations, will come into effect at the same time as commencement of similar provisions in the Bill?