Health and Social Care Bill (Programme) (No. 3)

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will want to look at clause 20, which is very clear about Monitor's responsibilities. I am sorry—it is not clause 20; I will find it later. Monitor's duties are very clear, and they include support for the integration of services and for the continuous improvement of quality of services. Across the NHS there is existing legislation making it clear that there is a responsibility for collaboration. As we have made clear in response to the NHS Future Forum's report on the listening exercise, we are taking an evolutionary approach. The competition and co-operation panel was established under the Labour Government in January 2009. At that time, the panel made it absolutely clear that there should be a health basis for the implementation of competition and procurement rules in the NHS. That panel is now to be incorporated as part of Monitor. As its name implies, it examines both competition and collaboration. Monitor, like other bodies, has a duty to promote the integration of services. Now, as I said, we have introduced safeguards against privatisation. This Bill, for the first time, stops the Secretary of State—and, indeed, Monitor or the NHS commissioning board—from trying deliberately to increase the market share of a particular type of provider. If the previous Labour Government had put such a requirement in law when they were office, hundreds of millions of pounds would not have been paid to independent sector treatment centres to carry out operations that were not required and never took place. If the Opposition had their way this afternoon, the safeguards that we intend to put in place would not be available. In its response to the opportunity provided by Report stage, the Labour party is being not progressive but reactionary, while the trade unions are being misleading in the presentation of their campaign. To be specific, the trade unions and other proxy organisations such as 38 Degrees have gone to some trouble to misrepresent the Bill in order to attack it.