Personal Care at Home Bill

It is absolutely clear that the Government are keen to get this Bill through, and we too are extremely keen to see social care reformed. Although we have proposed improving amendments during the passage of the Bill, let me stress that we have never opposed it. We believe that the noble Lords, on both sides of their House, who have amended the Bill have done so for the better and for the betterment of social care provision. They have done their constitutional job, and they have done it well, so I congratulate their lordships. As much as I would relish the thought of debating the Bill through the night, and as much as these amendments represent the usual, slight embarrassment and defeats for the Government in the Lords, at the hands of those on both sides of that Chamber, including their own, I start by saying that the Government can have their Bill, because they have taken on board the advice of the Lords and because, in particular, they are supporting Lords amendment 2, which offers the opportunity and time for the provisions to be reconsidered in a future Parliament. I pay tribute, however, to the nearly 6 million social care users in this country—a catch-all category that speaks of conditions from dementia to disabilities of which we will all be aware—and to the 6 million carers in this country, who, alongside the professionals in local authorities and the care services industry, work so tirelessly for the vulnerable and the less vulnerable, who just need a little help. They should be at the forefront of our minds as we consider the Bill tonight. On the back of that, I would say very quickly that the Bill actually helps very few of those people. The Secretary of State has paraded the figure of 400,000, but the free personal care section is aimed only at 276,000, of whom well over half—166,000—already receive free care. So the policy helps 110,000, when social care users will number 6 million by 2012. According to the Government's estimate, the provisions will take just 2,384 people out of care homes—one of the stated aims of the policy—out of a care home population of roughly 500,000. I shall briefly put this in context. Earlier today, by way of a written ministerial statement, the Secretary of State announced the social care White Paper. This is not the moment to suggest either that it would have been more helpful to have an oral statement or that, during Health questions, he did not actually rule out the death tax option. However, it is important to recognise that the White Paper recommends that we have yet another commission, like the one ignored by the Labour Government in 2000. It states that the issue will be dealt with in the Parliament after next, but the Secretary of State pledged unstoppable momentum for reform in the next Parliament. Indeed, on Labour's timetable, reform will begin in 2017—20 years after Tony Blair's promise to end the scandal of people selling their homes to pay for the their care. The White Paper does not mention costs, which no serious debate would ignore. It states that the Government have chosen the comprehensive funding model, but it is not actually a funding model; it is a delivery model. The funding is the question: where does the money come from? The flagship policy, which was taken from our last manifesto—we have, obviously, moved on further—is to fund the cost of people's care after they have spent two years in a care home, on the basis that they will avoid what the Secretary of State calls catastrophic costs. However, those two years will cost the individual £52,000. In that context, I hope that he will recognise that £52,000 is catastrophic, compared with the £8,000 we have proposed. We have listened carefully to what the Government have done, which is not to move the earlier manuscript amendment and to accept the advice of the Lords in amendment 2, which affords the time that is required and was rightly requested in order for the costs to be properly evaluated and for local authorities to have the time that they have politely said that they need.