Health Bill [Lords]

Yes, I must. The Secretary of State said that he sees the promotion of health and the prevention of disease as his top priority. The Opposition have been making suggestions to the Government for a long time, and they have accepted many of our proposals. May I make a proposal about something we have been on about for a long time? As Secretary of State, he should not make public health the responsibility of another Minister in his Department, but should make it his responsibility. Although I hope that his tenure as Secretary of State is short, he will realise that none the less there is an opportunity to do good if he takes public health into his own hands. There are certainly issues about the development of Change4Life and the public health programme that need to be pushed forward quickly if it is to have the success we all wish for it. The Bill owes something to the Secretary of State's past tenure at the Department of Health. He followed one of the proposals my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition and I made about greater operational independence for the NHS and the need for it to have a constitution. He echoed those thoughts, and said that a constitution and more operational independence for the NHS would be a good thing.