---

Health and Social Care Bill

I welcome the fact that the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) recognises amendment No. 62 as an important concession, but it was not clear from his comments whether he was criticising us for going too far or not going far enough. I am not likely to get that clarification at the moment, as he is not here. The hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) put her finger on it when she gave an example of how sensitive some patient and user groups are about organisations claiming to speak on their behalf. That is why we have broadened this out significantly to include groups who speak on people's behalf, not just a single organisation, although I specifically referred to LINks. I urge hon. Members on both sides of the House to give LINks a chance before writing them off. To reassure the hon. Member for Eddisbury on the retention of the status quo on the Mental Health Act 2007, I draw his attention to amendment No. 68. I could have gone into that in more detail, but that is what that amendment does with regard to the rules on the opening of post. The hon. Gentleman asked me to guarantee that the new regulatory landscape will not be scrapped again in three years' time. If, as I hope, there is still a Labour Government in three years' time, I can give him that assurance. There was a general recognition in Committee that the Bill finishes the job that we began several years ago. In fact, as we discussed at some length, some Liberal Democrats urged this integration on us at the time of the last reorganisation of the regulatory system, but we felt that the timing was not right and that it made sense to allow the existing regulatory bodies to settle down and do their job—and they have done a very good job. Even from the bodies that face abolition, there was a recognition of the desirability of the principle of integration. Once that has taken place, everyone feels that we will need time for the new regulatory system to bed down. In response to the hon. Gentleman's question about the complaints process—something we discussed at some length—I draw his attention to the memorandum submitted by Ann Abraham on 14 January, which spells out clearly how she expects to meet this challenge. Amendment agreed to.