Health Bill [HL]

I, too, support this amendment. I will not rehearse the arguments that I made on Monday about carers, but it is important that we all remember that, for many people, the handbook will be the way in to the constitution. We must therefore keep it as up to date and as widely known as possible. I also want to discuss the concept of ““widely known””. It is quite easy for us in Grand Committee, in your Lordships’ House and in the system to understand constitutions and handbooks. For the ordinary punter out there, however, it is a completely new concept. It will not be part of their daily reading or their daily lives, so we should all be in favour of having a greater opportunity to publicise its existence and its purpose. From the point of view alone of making the constitution more widely known, the consultation should be as frequent and as wide as possible.