Clause 1 - Health Protection Agency
Health Protection Agency Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Miss Melanie Johnson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, Mrs. Adams, and your co-Chairman, Mr. Forth, to the Chair. We look forward to both your
chairmanships. The debate is not high politics, so I trust that we will not give you too much cause for concern and that our debate will be constructive and our demeanour good throughout the proceedings. As I said, the Lords considered the Bill for some nine and a half hours, and suggested several improvements, several of which the Government accepted. The Bill has benefited from those improvements.
Without further do, and given the time frame, I propose very brief discussion of the clause, which establishes the Health Protection Agency. Paragraph 2 of schedule 1 makes detailed provisions for the agency's constitution. I have more details to give, but first I shall ascertain whether Opposition Members want to discuss the clause in more detail before I decide whether to speak further.