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Health and Social Care Bill

I dare say that many of us would like to be a fly on the wall, if not in the Public Gallery, of the next PAC meeting when my hon. Friend will have a chance to put precisely that question. It will be interesting to hear what answer is given, in view of the expected responsibilities. It is extraordinary to find ourselves in this situation, not least when the health and pregnancy grant has been tested by having gone through such a lengthy process in both Houses. By his own admission, the Minister found much of the debate on that grant somewhat frustrating. We support it in principle, but we do so on the basis of evidence that it is indeed in the early weeks of pregnancy, and often the time before conception, that is most important for the health—in the broadest possible definition—and the health care of women either just pregnant or seeking to become pregnant. How that will be understood in the rather clinical world of the PAC, I do not know. Like my hon. Friend, I remain fascinated and I remain to be convinced.