Table
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
10:30 am
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
Whips have an uncanny ability to hear things even when they are not present, so the hon. Gentleman should not worry about my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Canning Town (Jim Fitzpatrick).
It is incorrect to say that the Human Reproductive Cloning Bill was introduced before we started discussions on the programme resolution. The Government made clear their intention to introduce that Bill some time ago, and we submitted our proposals on the programme motion to the Opposition last week. Yesterday, in the Programming Sub-Committee, we had an opportunity to discuss these issues, but the hon. Gentleman did not raise this matter. [Interruption.] I stand corrected if he did. On this occasion we must make some difficult choices. It is right that the Committee should meet on Thursday, and members of the Committee must decide how they want to allocate their time. I do not want to advise my hon. Friends not to meet on Thursday, and I am not in a position to help the hon. Gentleman with his predicament. My concern is to make progress with the Bill, and I ask the Committee to support me in that.