Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

Amendment No. 242E is consequential on Amendments Nos. 242C and 242D. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, has made the case powerfully on why the use of the word ““significant”” is a mistake. North-east Derbyshire has caused a lot of trouble here and it is clear that the Department of Health feels that it would have been easier to win the day in court if ““significant”” were included. However, I refer the Minister to the views of Candy Morris, of the South East Coast Strategic Health Authority, and Richard Stein, a lawyer, in their evidence to the Health Select Committee in the other place. Both argued that there was no need to amend the law relating to the duty to consult, because if the Department of Health approached that in the right spirit, it would work fine. The noble Earl is saying that we need to approach this in the right spirit and in a grown-up way. Putting in ““significant”” would raise all sorts of questions about who decides what is significant—is this change or that change significant? That is not a grown-up way of proceeding. All of us in the Committee take this matter seriously and I hope that we will get some considerable comfort from the Minister.