Health Bill [Lords]

Most of my comments have already been outlined by the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien), so I will be brief. As he said, in the other place the Opposition inserted a clause to enable the Secretary of State to make exceptions to the private patient income cap for foundation trusts. The Conservative amendment seeks to reintroduce that measure, and had it been put to a vote we would have supported it. It is a shame that the Government removed the clause in Committee, but the reasons for that have been outlined, and at least we got a commitment to a review, which I welcome. The Minister outlined the process, but it would be helpful if he could be a little clearer about the time scales involved, because this could be one of those things that is kicked into the long grass and forgotten about once the impetus of the Bill is no longer with us. I welcome new clause 13 in some ways, because it helps mental health trusts, which are completely hamstrung at the moment. Many of them, including my local trust, have innovative ideas about things they want to do and services they want to provide that are add-ons rather than taking anything away from existing NHS patients. However, what puzzles me is why the amendment applies only to mental health trusts: why not have a wholesale move to a minimum of 1.5 per cent., or whichever was the rate at transfer? A small number of foundation trusts have a cap of less than 1.5 per cent., and they will be feeling aggrieved that they are missing out—that they have seen others gain something that will enable them to provide new services while they are still stuck in the same shackles. Why did the Minister not take the opportunity to be a little bolder and introduce a level playing field of a 1.5 per cent. minimum for everybody whose cap was beneath that? Was it simpler to take this measure only for mental health trusts, or was there a reason why it could not be done for the other foundation trusts? I share the sentiments expressed by the hon. Member for Eddisbury, in that I would not want mental health trusts to lose out, but it is a shame that an opportunity has been missed.