I will start by reassuring my hon. Friends the Members for Tamworth and for Plymouth, Devonport that the provisions we are debating are completely without prejudice to the relevant health and safety legislation, which of course require workers to undergo the necessary medical testing and treatment, in so far as their personal health is affected by conditions at work. That is the crucial difference, so I hope that that reassures them.

Responding to the points made on more frequent medical checks, it has never been our intention that medical treatment should be exempted from tax when provided by a company. That is no different to any other type of private medical treatment. An individual may go for a check-up in which a problem is identified that is then treated via the company, but we have no desire to treat that check-up as a benefit in kind. We therefore provide a generous taxation position; I do not know whether the Opposition would want to do so.

Before the regulations were introduced in 2007, the guidance, as has been mentioned, referred to periodic medical check-ups. That was based on the understanding that, when an employer provides employees with medical check-ups, they are commonly at longer intervals than once a year—perhaps reflecting the fact that the hon. Member for Henley is not alone in his aversion to check-ups. It is certainly our understanding that routine check-ups, rather than treatment, tend in practice to take place less frequently than once a year, which is absolutely fine as far as the regulations are concerned.

The regulations were introduced in 2007 because we needed to ensure there was a clear legislative basis for what was otherwise simply an understanding on the part of HMRC. We are changing them now precisely because of the representations we have received and simply because we want to get the provisions right. There were some anomalies that, to be honest, HMRC had not identified. The example that makes the point most clearly is that the 2007 regulations stated that precisely the same check-ups needed to be made available to all classes of people, and since some of the check-ups are for gender-related cancer, it immediately became apparent that it was absurd to require that the whole work force should be tested for testicular or breast cancer, regardless of gender. It soon became clear that something needed to be sorted out, so the clause aims simply to regularise that position.