Health Bill

I had not intended to challenge the words of the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, on this issue, but I would just mention that there are many people here in this Committee today who have had much longer experience of parliamentary affairs than I have. I have been a Cross-Bench Peer now for 17 years. I never had the privilege of serving in the other place. I well remember that in a major debate on an NHS Bill early in 1990, when I had only been in the House for 12 months, we were considering a number of amendments in Committee. I was castigated and, I am afraid, invited to sit down and stop speaking by the then Leader of the House because it was alleged that I was making a Second Reading speech, and not speaking to the amendment that was on the Table before us. We have been engaged in debate here for nearly three hours. In fact, if I may say so, we have been having what has almost certainly been a Second Reading debate, and very few of the debates have been related to the amendments before us. In my opinion, if we are to make progress, we ought to remember that particular point of parliamentary procedure.