Member

Amendment 23 looks again at the Government’s approach to introducing the single unique identifier and would require the specification of the NHS number. The Minister will know that the pilot of the single unique identifier in Wigan has revealed how complicated it is to implement this approach and, therefore, how slow it is. We continue to believe that it is not realistic to think that the Government will introduce another identifier or number that would be workable, as set out in government Amendment 22. I would be grateful if the Minister, when she comes to sum up, could give an estimate for the timescale and relative cost of the two approaches: of using an NHS number, or a new single unique identifier. I beg to move.