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Health Bill [HL]

I shall say a few words about Amendment 65, to which I have added my name. I am considerably reassured by what my noble friend has already said about the evaluation of these pilot schemes, particularly that there will be a reputable, independent, academic body that will carry out the review. Will he confirm that the department will be bound by the findings of this body and that the Government will withdraw or suitably amend certain parts of the scheme according to the recommendations of this independent report? As we have heard, many highly complex issues are involved in these schemes, and it is important that as many as possible of these are ironed out before the scheme spreads to the whole country. I deliberately did not use the term "rolled out" because it has been overused. The evaluation team and its protocol should be well in place before the pilot starts so that it knows exactly how to conduct the study. Is that in the plan? What proportion of PCTs will undertake these pilots? Will they be involved in mounting the schemes and hosting the valuation teams?