Personal Care at Home Bill

My Lords, when I spoke on Second Reading I was critical of this Bill on grounds of both process and substance, and despite the assurances offered by the Minister nothing I have seen or heard subsequently causes me to revise that assessment. On process, it exemplifies how not to go about developing a policy on a long-term issue. It introduces an option previously rejected in the Green Paper, even before the consultation period was finished, and, to judge by the outcry from local authorities and care professionals, insufficient work has been done to nail down the costs or establish clearly who should fund them. On substance, the Bill remains flawed. Rather than progressively increasing the support elderly people are eligible for, as their needs rise over time, it introduces a discontinuity whereby people with moderately high needs in their own homes are helped much more generously than those with even greater needs who have to move into a residential home. This is an injustice and I do not think we should introduce that injustice without a plan being in place quickly to resolve it. It is an acknowledged role of this House to seek greater time for reflection where flawed legislation or flawed implementation is put before us. In my view this is precisely such a case where we need more time to get the policy, its funding and implementation right. I therefore support this amendment.