Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)
My Lords, for the benefit of noble Lords who were not in the Chamber at 11 am this morning, it may be helpful if I outline the arrangements for the remainder of today. We will shortly continue proceedings on the Health and Care Bill. The House will break again at 6.45 pm for questions on a Statement on Ukraine. After the Statement, we will continue proceedings on the Bill.
We have now spent over 33 hours in Committee on this important Bill. This morning, I urged—indeed, begged—all noble Lords with an interest in the Bill to be as concise as they felt able to be in their contributions, to speak to amendments that were before the Committee and not to rehearse arguments that would be more suited to Second Reading. I noted that the Front Benches would also seek to ensure that their contributions were brief and focused, and I am grateful for their co-operation this morning.
I am pleased that the House listened—a somewhat novel experience for this Government Chief Whip—and we made excellent progress this morning. However, we still have eight groups of amendments to get through today, and I once again implore Members to ensure that the debates remain as focused and succinct as they were before the break. In this way, we can ensure that all the amendments to this important Bill receive the attention they deserve. As I said this morning, I am sure I speak for the whole House when I say that none of us wishes to debate important issues in the early hours of the morning, so it is important that we continue in the way we started this morning.