Health Bill [HL]

I am grateful for that suggestion and I would be more than happy to look into it. I could not agree more that we should look at anything that will recognise the big contributions made by many people in this country in relation to clinical care—for example, nursing, midwifery and so on. I could go on and share with the Committee the innovations that have happened over the past 60 years. To address some of the issues raised by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, in relation to private sponsorship, I cannot see any reason why, by establishing these prizes, we will not just work in partnerships in future but even attract funding. The distinction of these awards could be so great that people in the private sector and other sponsorships may wish to work with us. Many competitors in other sectors have previously been collectively willing to spend 10 to 16 times the cash value of a prize on relevant research to meet the objectives. The best example would be the X PRIZE Foundation in 2007. I remind the Committee that the NHS has started to recognise its staff. We have the health and social care awards, which recognise achievement in the NHS. There are prizes to recognise a significant challenge and a significant achievement, such as the example of Peter Mansfield’s achievement. On many occasions we have debated the challenges that the health service will face over the next decade. Most of us are fully familiar with the ageing population, long-term conditions and lifestyle diseases. There are many challenges out there. If we can encourage our innovators to think about solutions for those major challenges, that will be money well spent. I will return to backfill. Historically, most researchers who have received sums of money of this type have invested that money in further research. There are many examples of this. The seven Nobel Prize laureates for physiology and medicine who worked in the NHS are a good example of how that funding maintained and continued their research. I have addressed how the expert panel will be constructed. As I said, we need expertise from outside to help us determine who these experts are, but not just to do the assessments. Let us not forget that the challenges need to be decided. It is not for me and the Department of Health to do that. It is for the expert panel to decide the challenges that will have the biggest impact on the health service. I believe that I have answered most of the issues raised by the noble Earl, Lord Howe. I very much hope that I have reassured him and that I have the support of the Committee in pushing this culture of innovation in the health service.