Written evidence to be reported to the House
Health and Social Care Bill
10:31 am
Stephen O'Brien (Shadow Minister, Health; Eddisbury, Conservative)
I add my welcome to you, Mr. Hood, as Chairman of the Committee, and to Mr. Conway. We look forward to serving under your leadership of our proceedings. On behalf of the official Opposition, I, too, welcome all members of the Committee to the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill, which is important in terms of the health and social care of people in England and Wales, and which, at times, touches on other legislative areas and jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.
I reiterate that the Second Reading debate was a positive introduction to the Bill, and I am pleased to see the witnesses available to us in the first three sittings, negotiated between the two Front Benches, out of a total of 12 sittings for the scrutiny of the Bill. Three sittings for witness evidence seems to be appropriate and reflects the importance and seriousness that all of us across the House place on the views of those who have an interest in these matters. I am pleased to see that, as noted by a number of people, the negotiations successfully led to what is now proposed as the programme motion for the list of witnesses. That includes the National Childbirth Trust, which, crucially, will be available to us to discuss the issue of the health in pregnancy grant. I had hoped for opportunities to hear from Monitor, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and a number of others, not least the Patient’s Association. That did not prove possible, although we hope that their advice will be available to members of the Committee during the scrutiny of the Bill.