My Lords, it is a great pleasure to be able to respond on behalf of the Government to our debate this afternoon. As ever, your Lordships’ House has demonstrated a very considerable degree of expertise in the subject. I am sure that I will not be able to cover all the points made, but we will have the opportunity of doing that at some length in Committee.
Like other noble Lords, I begin by joining in the tributes paid to the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin. I first saw the noble Lord when I, as an official at Customs and Excise, was drafted to sit in the Box during one day of a Budget debate when he was Secretary of State for Health and Social Security. I was very excited about this, until I was asked a question that I could not answer—fortunately, not by the noble Lord. The fact that in 1980 he was at the peak of his powers in that position and has remained a very influential Member in Parliament in its various forms since then is a real testament to his achievement. His interventions here, as noble Lords have said, have always carried great weight and have informed and guided our deliberations. We wish him a long and very happy retirement.