My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow other noble Lords, the majority of whom I completely agree with. I put my name down to speak to this group as I wish strongly to support the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, Amendments 10, 12, 74 and 75.
Last year, I was on the pre-legislative scrutiny committee for the Health Service Safety Investigations Bill, which did not proceed as a result of the election. Therefore, I believe that putting patient safety at the heart of this Bill and making it a safety Bill as other noble Lords have outlined makes complete sense. It would protect our population and make our country far more attractive for medical research, because we would be seen internationally as a leader in safety in that work and in any licences we gave to medicines and medical devices.
As well as medical devices inserted in the way that was so eloquently outlined by the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, and my noble friend Lord Patel, there are other pieces of equipment used regularly in intensive care and other care settings, including the community settings, where safety is paramount, particularly for the safe delivery of very small amounts of medication. Engineers in our country are developing far safer equipment for that kind of healthcare, which is largely delivered by nurses and other community health- care workers. Therefore, if we can make these issues clear in the Bill, we will be an extremely attractive country to sell such pieces of equipment internationally. For that reason, the priority of the Bill must be for patient safety, because it will result in much-increased attractiveness for us as an exporting nation in this field.