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It's easy to forget the impact that a ‘wash up’ can have on legislation and policy. The 2005 and 2010 parliaments ran their full courses meaning that there was little or no legislation put at risk by prorogation. This time it is different.

The snap election will have caught Government business managers by surprise and the Department of Health has not been immune to the cross-Whitehall scramble to secure time to pass legislation.

The decision to drop increases to probate fees and potentially cave on counting students in the immigration figures may have captured the headlines, but the Department of Health has also been forced to make concessions on the Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Bill.

This technocratic bill, the principles of which are supported by all parties, has run into parliamentary trouble as opposition groups have used it to protest at the decision to impose a budget impact threshold in NICE technology appraisals and establish a cost effectiveness threshold in decisions on treatments for very rare conditions. Both measures amount to significant changes in policy and, critics argue, run counter to the principles established by NICE in appraising medicines and the Government’s own rhetoric on encouraging the life sciences sector.

The result has been successive defeats for the Government in the House of Lords. Rather than seeking to face down the Lords and risk losing the Bill due to lack of time, health ministers have now tabled their own changes to the Bill, which effectively accept the substance of the Opposition’s amendment.

Legislation that the Department of Health very much wanted will now surely pass, ahead of the logjam of Brexit legislation which will surely characterise the early sessions of the new Parliament.

The price of passage is probably more symbolic than substantial. The Government has now accepted – in primary legislation – the importance of considering, and consulting upon, the impact that exercising its powers may have on patients, the economy and the life sciences sector. The change is unlikely to have a material impact on medicines pricing, but it could set an interesting precedent as the Government prepares to publish its industrial strategy and officials and industry gear up to begin negotiations on the next voluntary pricing deal.

By avoiding confrontation on the Bill, the Government also reduces the risk of a row about access to medicines as we head into the short campaign. Yet, having resisted compromise during the Commons and Lords stages, as well as the first round of ping pong, ministers and officials will no doubt resent the concession that the early election has necessitated. Electoral politics has trumped what was meant to be a mid-term policy.


Richmond House, behind the curtain

At 11 o’clock last Tuesday morning, civil servants in Richmond House and across Whitehall were glued to their TV screens just like everyone else. The countdown to purdah began, and the department rushed to push through as many policy decisions as possible before the end of Friday.

After saying goodbye and (a politically neutral) good luck to their ministers, private offices will now be looking forward to six weeks of extreme thumb twiddling, interspersed with archiving emails and office spring cleans.

However, there is still work to be done. Across the department, training sessions will run to ensure teams are ready for any possibility after 8 June, whether that is returning ministers, fresh faces or even surprise coalitions. Long-serving members of the team will remember the shock of the 2015 exit polls and will prepare for the unexpected, just in case.

Announcements and consultations have been put on hold, but delays are nothing new in the civil service and officials will be hoping to resume business as usual with the same ministers after the election. Policy development will carry on unofficially, and big pieces of work like the industrial strategy, social care green paper and Brexit preparations will not be left forgotten. Smart officials will be trying to ensure their work makes it into manifestos and that previous commitments don’t get overlooked in the election rabble. And policy teams will get to work drafting ‘day one papers’ for each party once the manifestos are released to provide early advice on their commitments and how to make them a reality.

With the Department of Health rife with speculation about whether or not a new Secretary of State will walk into Richmond House after 8 June, civil servants are busy planning for every eventuality – whatever that may look like.