Health Bill [Lords]

The new clause is designed to correct a drafting mistake that was made in the Health Act 2006, which is now consolidated into the National Health Service Act 2006. I understand that the error was spotted by officials on 8 September this year, and the new clause makes no change in policy. Since the introduction of the optical voucher scheme in 1986, Government policy has been that eligibility for NHS optical vouchers should be targeted at children and those who are in receipt of a qualifying income-related benefit or need a complex optical appliance. Those eligible for help on low-income grounds include those aged 60 or over. The change introduced in the Health Act 2006 seems mistakenly to have extended eligibility for optical vouchers to all people aged 60 or over, regardless of income. That was not referred to in the explanatory notes to the Act, and it was not the subject of an impact assessment or consultation. It was a mistake made during the process of preparing the draft Bill. Before Opposition Members have fun with this—I would expect no less—I remind them of the minor fact that although it is true that Ministers at the time did not spot that the wording was wrong, neither did either Opposition party’s Front Benchers, so let us not be holier-than-thou about this. We accept that there appears to have been a drafting error. The best that I can work out as to how that happened is that there seems to have been some lack of clarity in the Department of Health’s instructions, which led to a mistake in drafting that was never picked up in this place or the other place. The new clause simply corrects that error and reinstates the legislation that reflects our long-standing intention and policy, including at the time of the Health Act 2006—to maintain entitlement unchanged. No one eligible for an optical voucher before the mistake was made is affected by the new clause. Our view continues to be that help with the cost of optical appliances through the NHS voucher scheme should be targeted at those most in need, and that that represents the best use of NHS funds. That view predates our Government and has continued, by and large, under this Government.