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Health Bill [HL]

I have no support from Monitor, although I am a member of that regulatory body, to speak on its behalf. Instead, I speak purely for myself today. This represents a terrible back-pedalling, and it is not the first time that it has happened over the past few months. For the chief executive of the NHS to intervene seems to represent a clawing back of powers yet again to the Secretary of State, where we had hoped that we were moving away from that position. I am surprised that the Treasury has espoused this plan because if a foundation trust with joint capital ventures were to go bust, it would expose the Exchequer to considerable risk. I am rather surprised that when we had provisions that would have moved away from such a risk, this returns us to it. I am very disappointed. After many months of negotiation, Monitor has stood back because it felt that it was getting nowhere. It is prepared to work within the framework set down in the Bill, but in my view it is a sad day.