Chamber and committees

I do not want to make a commitment today, but I am quite happy to take that issue away, have a look at it and write to the committee further down the line about whether we find that to be possible or, if not, why we cannot do it. Just give me some time to have a look at it.

On framework bills and the type of bill that we choose, there is no exact science. Nine times out of 10, it will be the traditional method, but on this occasion it is a framework bill because this is a more radical and new way of looking at an issue. It is such an important issue—we are talking about a national care service, which will touch so many people’s lives. It is important to ensure that we have that level of engagement.

This is a different way of thinking and a different way to look at how we design something, because scrutiny will come from this committee as the process goes forward. It will come from other committees, as well—the last that I heard was that there are about seven committees feeding into the process for the national care service bill. Once we get to the stage where we are pushing it forward, we will be pretty confident that we have something that is robust enough and that will deliver what people want. That is the most important thing for us.

With regard to the type of bill that we will use in future, it will depend on the circumstances. Do you think that I will be coming forward with hundreds of framework bills as of today? No, I will not; which bill we use will depend on the circumstances and how we can deliver the legislation to ensure that it can do what it needs to do. At the end of the day, it is not about us but delivering for people out there in the real world.

It really depends on—I am trying not to be political—

Yes. I could say that I can write to you after the summer recess, which could mean after this summer recess, or it could mean the one following that.

Yes, we are. I am laughing because I had to ask a couple of weeks ago who my counterpart is. We have been ensuring that we do that because we know how serious the situation is. We have been trying to reach a position where everyone is working together. Although there are policy differences, we are trying to make this work.

When I first got involved in Government, all the acronyms and so on that are used came as a bit of a shock, so I am aware that we need to ensure that things are in plain English. I do not want to get to a place where I understand Government lingo but we are not getting our point of view across.

The figure would probably be about 15. With some UK Government situations, one of the challenges is how long it takes for information to get to us, which slows up the process. However, on the whole, we are probably looking at 15 SI notifications.

As always, there is on-going discussion with the UK Government. An example that I provided earlier is the proposed UK retained EU law bill—in whatever form it takes—which could be a major issue for us. It could have an effect on us and give us problems; we do not know what the bill will do.

During my time as the Minister for Parliamentary Business, there has not been much in the way of co-operation on such issues. It is probably more likely that we will receive information either just before the bill is published or when it is published.

That would make it challenging.