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Health Bill [Lords]

I join others in welcoming the Secretary of State to his new position. I shall say a bit more about that in a short while. As a Back Bencher, the Secretary of State contributed to the debate on the private income cap during the Report stage of the Bill that became the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. He therefore knows about this issue. He must be aware that the way in which the cap is biting on foundation trusts that are also mental health trusts, which have had virtually no private income, is preventing them from supplying services to, for example, the private companies that are acting as employment providers under the new deal. It is having potentially significant perverse effects. I hope that the Secretary of State has noted that his noble Friend Lord Warner, who moved the relevant clause back in 2003, said in another place on 12 May this year:""I was the Minister who moved the offending clause… I repent my sins."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 12 May 2009; Vol. 710, c. 936.]" Will the Secretary of State at least tell the House now, on Second Reading, that he will not exclude the possibility of leaving the Bill as it is in this respect, so that Ministers can make the necessary regulations in the future? If he does not do that, he may close off the possibility of a change in the primary legislation.