---

Health Bill [HL]

I am not sure I can talk about who would fund the liabilities, but certainly we would propose another scheme. In effect, you would intervene to ensure that services to be maintained were probably maintained by someone else. Indeed, Monitor has intervened in this past week in an unsatisfactory hospital to support the change of leadership in a trust where things were going wrong. It has used its powers of intervention far more willingly—though sparingly—than the NHS chief executive uses his powers. An organisation that has its finger on the performance of these organisations, is trusted with widespread intervention powers and is expected to rescue the organisations as we go along, trying to pick up on a compliance basis when they are likely to fail and intervening before they do, should then at the point of failure have to hand over to another system, back to the Secretary of State, for the final administration and interventions. I am surprised by this regime; it is unsatisfactory. I wholeheartedly agree with the noble Earl.