---

Health and Social Care Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for helping us to recall what happened in Committee. Some of us who were a touch sceptical about the evidence sessions before they took place found that they helped a lot of us understand where the evidence that had inspired the Government to introduce the provisions might lie. That was particularly so in the case of the health and pregnancy grant. We all approached the grant in a benign way, with good will, because we wanted to see it happen. The hon. Gentleman is entirely right that the grant must be appropriate. Where there are scarce resources, and in particular where extra resources are being made available, they should be targeted at those who can benefit most from that support. Pregnant women are clearly in that category. It is best that resources are well targeted to deliver the best benefit. The evidence we were seeking was where that best benefit would lie. Rather than castigating those who might be presumed to misuse the money, on the contrary, I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Angela Browning)—I hope that the hon. Gentleman heard me—that I thought it rather rough and unfair for the payment in Australia to be termed the ““plasma payment””. This country should be better able to trust people to do the best for themselves if they are given the opportunity to do so with extra resources. That is precisely what I was seeking to ensure was being said in response to my hon. Friend. The big issue is that if there are scarce resources—if it is not possible to augment the payment proposed by the Government, who have identified what resources they are prepared to devote to the grant—we need to target them in the best way. The evidence does not suggest that it is best to put a nutritional opportunity at the tail end of a pregnancy, which is what the Prime Minister seemed to say when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and that was announced, in effect, by voting the money, or the intended money. Rather, the evidence suggests that it should be provided in the early weeks, and prior to conception. That is the beef; that is the argument. We are all trying to achieve nutritional and health improvements. I do not think that the hon. Gentleman and I are at odds on that. It was helpful that he intervened, because I have been able to make it clear that we are not in the business of castigating people. On the contrary, we want them to derive the best benefit from a potential opportunity. However, in the light of all the discussion, and the evidence to the contrary of what the Prime Minister sought to pray in aid, we believe that what is delivered in the Bill is still based on a false premise. We would be far better off using the evidence sessions, which were designed to help the Committee, to ensure that the best benefit is delivered in the early years and prior to conception.