Lord Harper (Con)

I am going to limit my remarks to a couple of process points, which think are important. I have listened very carefully to those with considerable expertise on the clinical issues raised by these amendments, and I just want to cover these points. The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, has just made the point that this loophole has been well understood for some time and was not dealt with in the House of Commons, although it could have been. I gently say, because there is some frustration from the supporters of this Bill about the time taken to scrutinise it, in repeating what I have said before—it is part of the reason why noble Lords are having to table significant amendments and debate this Bill at length—that there are considerable gaps in the Bill that have been known for some time and have not previously been dealt with. The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, was exactly right to point out that it is this House that will have delivered an amendment to make that considerable improvement, which has been argued for by a number of people for some time. We are doing good work here, whatever people may think of the principle of the Bill, in improving the drafting. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, referred at the beginning to whether the Committee would accept this change to the Bill. I make a clear distinction here—and I am going to be very supportive of his position—between this debate and the earlier debate on what he described as drafting amendments. Many of us considered that they were not drafting amendments but quite significant changes, and we made it clear that, if he pressed them, we would oppose him. In this case, his Amendment 87, as amended by Amendment 87A, clearly resolves one issue in the Bill, and that is welcome. I would certainly have no objection if the noble and learned Lord pressed the amendment, and I hope the Committee would accept it, because there is general agreement that it would improve the Bill. Finally, as has been said by the noble Baronesses, Lady Parminter and Lady Berger, the noble and learned Lord’s amendment fixes one problem. I am not at all an expert in this area, but I understand from those who are that it deals with the issue of anorexia but leaves other eating disorders such as bulimia unresolved, as the noble Baroness, Lady Berger, said. There are other amendments in this group that raise those issues. I hope for two things. When the Minister responds, I hope that she can commit at a later stage to setting out that, in the view of the Government and the Department of Health, with regard to the span of eating disorders, the Bill will actually deal with them when we have made some more progress on it. That is a factual point, not an expression of a policy position. When the noble and learned Lord responds, as well as pressing Amendment 87 as amended by Amendment 87A, I hope that he can say something positive about what work he will conduct with the Department of Health on drafting some later amendments on Report to deal with the other eating disorders that have been explained, so that we can make sure that there are no loopholes covering any of these eating disorders. As we have heard, they affect a very significant number of people, particularly younger people, and particularly younger women. I want to make sure that we properly protect them as this Bill proceeds through your Lordships’ House.