Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am most grateful. I was going to propose that. It is in this context that I should again reveal that my daughter, who is now 27, is very fortunate to live in a Rudolf Steiner Camphill community, one of many intentional communities around the country. These communities are very much in demand among the family carers of our most disabled people, although they are not always wholly popular with local authorities and social services. That is unfortunate, because these communities are very care-effective and also very cost-effective, saving around £50,000 per annum per person over normal community care. They also allow people such as my daughter to live far more independently than they could under any form of care in the wider community outside. As my daughter said to me recently, ““You see, I can help other people in the village””, whereas there are occasions when it is clear that she feels something of a nuisance at home, however much we can do for her. I hope that we can amend the Bill in Committee to give more encouragement and funding to family carers and to intentional communities. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, whose words I strongly support, I imagine that we will come back to the subject when we consider the Government’s new consultative document Valuing People Now. In the mean time, I would be grateful for any words of encouragement that the Minister can offer to the family carers of our most severely intellectually disabled people and to our intentional communities, which do such a wonderful job for our least fortunate people.