Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I thank the Minister in his role as chief purveyor of facts, as well as his many other talents, for that response. I think there is probably some good news in there, but I need to read what he said in order to be sure that there is. Of course we are all aware of the Care Matters White Paper, but sometimes people just need money and not various other forms of support. I thank other noble Lords who have contributed to the debate. We have had a thorough discussion of this, as I said earlier, very complex issue. I am very glad that some people provided anecdotes. There are thousands of anecdotes about deprivation and suffering regarding family and friends who care for children. There is also a fair bit of research on it, to which I have also referred. One of the things that worries me is that local authorities may differ so much in what they do for family and friends who are carers and how they do it. That always needs to be regulated. As has been pointed out today, there must be long-term savings by having children not going into care. Dire consequences can result from children going into care—poor achievement, substance misuse, teenage pregnancy and ending up in custody, with all that that costs. Of course there must be potential savings if we support carers and the children who are in care. I wish someone would work out what that saving could be. Maybe someone on the back row could do that little task. I shall read carefully the whole debate and what the Minister has said. We might come up with some simpler composite amendment at a later stage. Perhaps the Government might do so. We need to keep the matter on board and to look at it again. In the mean time I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.