§ Lords amendment: No. 58, in page 24, line 42, leave out "two" and insert "twelve".
§ Mr. MoyleI beg to move, That this House doth disagree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The issue here is fairly straightforward. As the Bill left this House, Part III, setting out the procedure for authorising private facilities outside the NHS, was to be brought in two months after the Bill received the Royal Assent.
Their Lordships passed an amendment which provides that Part III shall come into operation 12 months after the Royal Assent to the Bill has been received. I find that difficult to understand from their point of view because it would mean that no authorisations under Part III could be given at least until well into 1977.
For those reasons, and in the confidence that the Government can carry out the necessary consultations within a two-month period after the Royal Assent, I urge the House to reject the amendments and replace the old starting date of two months after the date of the Royal Assent.
§ Mr. BoscawenThere is little likelihood that the Government can get the Board going and get Part III into operation within two months. The Board has 1790 an enormous job to do. Its first priority is to sort out the waiting list problem. We do not see two months as a practical possibility. We believe that it will take far longer to get the Board appointed and for the Board to settle down and find out what its job is. It will have to phase out the remaining pay beds after the first 1,000 before it gets on to Part II to investigate the aspirations of the private sector. We think that 12 months is a much more practicable and reasonable period.
§ Question put and agreed to.