Personal Care at Home Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her reply and to all noble Lords who have spoken and given the amendment a warm welcome. The noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, made a couple of points. I think that the Minister probably responded to the point about users who are unable to represent their own needs or have difficulty in doing so. On the point that it is not possible to meet everyone’s needs simultaneously, thoroughgoing implementation of the personalisation agenda should help in that regard. However, I am largely reassured by what the Minister said, in that a statutory requirement for service users to be involved does in fact exist under the community care Act. That being the case, there is probably no need for the amendment to be put on the face of the Bill. I was glad to hear the Minister say that it is her intention to emphasise that requirement in guidance, and possibly to give further guidance as to how to discharge the obligation. I shall read carefully what the Minister said and see whether there is anything that we need to return to on Report. I was a bit concerned when she said at the end of her response that people would not be paid. Arrangements differ from one body to another, and sometimes payments are made for this kind of user involvement. I would want to be sure that, where there was a practice of payment, this could be maintained without, as she said, pushing people above the benefit thresholds. For the time being, I am happy to beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 2 withdrawn. Amendment 3 Moved by