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Health and Social Care Bill

I bow to my hon. Friend's experience and knowledge. I think that those of us who are men should trespass rather carefully on this area, as much of the expertise is clearly on her side. There is no doubt that the evidence entirely supports what she has said. It would have been better if the Government had had the grace to accept that on this occasion the Prime Minister ““misspoke””—let us be kind—and that there was no evidence to support what he had said was the genesis of this part of the Bill. It is vital for future health that we consider this issue while discussing Lords amendments Nos. 48 and 49, because we shall not have a further opportunity to do so at this stage of the Bill's passage. I hope that the Minister will respond, and will not choose to remain in his seat as he did when we debated the last group of amendments. Those who must implement the Bill will then be able to argue for a health in pregnancy grant to be made at the time when it will be of most value. As my hon. Friend will be the first to remember, a series of amendments were tabled in Committee—under both chairmanships—relating to the number of weeks involved. The issue was not whether the grant should be paid when a woman was 25, 24, 23, 21, 16 or even 12 weeks pregnant; it was to do with the pre-conception stage and the very early weeks of pregnancy, the fact that nutritional information was vital, and the benefit that could be derived from it.