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Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, this has been a useful debate and I thank every noble Lord who has contributed to it. The Minister pointed out that my amendment is defective in that, if it were accepted, it would lead to an even number of people on the panels. That was not my intention; I am fully signed up to the proposition that there should be an uneven number, for precisely the reasons that she gave. I had thought that the sense of the amendment would have been obvious, as it was to those noble Lords who supported me. The central point here is public confidence; the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, was right to bring that out. Having said that, I take the Minister’s point that this matter will be the subject of considerable public consultation. I was also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Walton, for posing the question about how the rules, when established, would be approved and by whom. It is reassuring to hear that there will be parliamentary scrutiny. I do not belittle the type of parliamentary scrutiny that comes with the negative resolution procedure but, to be negative about the negative resolution procedure, we are all aware that in practice it is not possible for us to change a statutory instrument or to vote it down. We can only look forward to a statutory instrument that is the product of considered prior deliberation by the OHPA and those whom it consults. It is right for me to beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Schedule 8 [Extension of powers under s.60 of Health Act 1999]: