Commons Bill [HL]

I shall do my best to answer some of those questions. The noble Baroness asked about ring-fencing. We can provide funding for pilot programmes, which will initially be brought on, but later on we are not allowed to ring-fence because Government policy allows for flexibility for local authorities to spend as they want. It is too early to say which areas will be pilot areas, but that is a legitimate question. We might come back to it at some stage, although it may be after Royal Assent that we have a better idea about that. The answer to the Wales question reminds me of the issue that my noble friend raised yesterday, for which he is still owed an answer. I hope to give him that answer next Tuesday. His question was so important that we need at least a week to give him the proper answer. Funding in Wales is a matter for the National Assembly. It is up to the Assembly; it may wish to target funding or the roll-out of implementation, but the constitutional position is exactly as he said; it is a matter for the Assembly. I very much doubt whether anything that I said would influence things one way or the other.