Lord Kamall (Con)

My Lords, in the absence of my noble friend Lady Coffey, who is not in her place, I hope it is acceptable if I move Amendment 26 and speak to Amendment 27. Both amendments seek to bring forward the commencement of the Bill rather than leaving its provisions to be implemented by regulations. The Government say they need the Bill to pass as soon as possible but then refuse to commit to a date for commencement. Given that there is no date for implementation, noble Lords will rightly ask: what is the hurry with this Bill? There is a fundamental constitutional point here. Emergency legislation should be avoided as far as possible and, where it is necessary, it should be delivered urgently. In this case, we have been asked to fast-track the Bill without there being any apparent urgency to implement it. The Minister sought to partly address this concern at Second Reading. Could she please explain exactly why the training allocation system will be unable to cope with the changed prioritisation arrangements introduced by the Bill if the BMA continues with its strike action during the coming months? What factors would frustrate the rollout? Would it be systems? Would it be the availability of officials? Would it be the ability of trusts and institutions to engage with the Department of Health and Social Care in a timely way? Or are there other reasons that noble Lords should be aware of? I hope this gives the Minister the opportunity to explain some of those reasons. While we agree with the principle of giving UK graduates priority, and many noble Lords across the Committee have said this, we should take the time to have a proper debate on whether any other students should also be prioritised and in what order. We should have a debate to consider and debate questions such as: while qualifications may be similar, whether graduates from overseas branches of UK universities really do have similar experience to those who studied in the UK and worked in the NHS, or whether the country in which they studied has a patient profile similar to the UK, and whether in fact any of these distinctions are actually important. Another possible question that we should be looking at is whether historical prioritisation is still valid for today’s world, and whether it is worth while or too much effort to revisit some international agreements. Instead of this much more considered debate, the Government tell us that they need to get the Bill on the statute book as soon as possible, but they are not forthcoming—perhaps not transparent—when it comes to implementation. Given this lack of clarity, I must say that there is a suspicion that the timing of the Bill and the Government’s rush to get it on to the statute book may appear to be not entirely unconnected with negotiations with the BMA resident doctors. Whatever our politics and whichever Bench we sit on, legislation should be about making the lives of British people better. Although this Bill has the potential to help British citizens who are graduates of UK medical schools, the lack of transparency on implementation gives the impression that this legislation is more about giving the Secretary of State a negotiating chip in discussions with the BMA. I gently suggest that this is not a good enough reason for rushing such legislation, which is why my noble friend and I tabled these amendments. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.