Tory spokesman Earl Howe also worried the bill might be deficient but said there was a "duty" to support its aims.

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Health minister Earl Howe emphasised that the bill's specific requirement for the health secretary to have regard to promoting research was the first of its kind, but promised to "undertake closer consideration" of how the health secretary's duties on research are defined.

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But Health Minister Earl Howe told peers that the bill had been subject to 25 full days of detailed analysis in the House of Lords - scrutiny that was "without recent precedent".

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