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Health and Social Care Bill

Like the hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley), I do not intend to repeat our lengthy discussions on the principle of the health in pregnancy grant—a principle that the Opposition opposed so strongly that they did not even bother to divide the Committee. I will, however, speak to Lords amendments Nos. 48 and 49. Clauses 126(6) and 129(6) amend section 122 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and section 116 of the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992. Those were included in the Bill with the express intention of ensuring that both the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland could verify that a woman had been given the appropriate health advice by an appropriate health professional, in order to be entitled to the health in pregnancy grant. Work to develop the arrangements for administering the grant subsequently established that both the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland in fact already had sufficient access to information under the existing provisions to verify whether the necessary advice had been given. Accordingly, clauses 126(6) and 129(6) are no longer necessary, so amendments Nos. 48 and 49 will remove those provisions from the Bill.