[2nd Allocated Day]

I merely wish to seek clarity from my hon. Friend on some of the briefings that his Department has been putting out about the duty to provide, to which he has referred already. Those briefings indicate that there was somehow no provision in the National Health Service Act 1946 for a duty on the Secretary of State to provide. I wanted my hon. Friend to acknowledge that section 1(1) states"““and for that purpose to provide or secure the effective provision of services in accordance with the following provisions of this Act.””" Equally, the National Health Service Act 1977 contains the same reference to the"““purpose to provide or secure””." The requirement to provide or secure is repeated throughout all the Health Acts.