Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her reply, although I shall resist the temptation to follow her into the realm of rearranging the furniture or even the deckchairs on the NHS ““Titanic””. She rather missed the point of Amendment 69ZA, which adds to the provision in the Bill that will require each local authority to, "““take such steps as it considers appropriate for improving the health of the people in its area””," the duty to take such steps as are appropriate to tackle the problems of health inequalities. That is the point that the amendment seeks to enshrine in the Bill. It is a duty that will lie on the Secretary of State for national purposes, but not for local purposes.