My Lords, I support this amendment in particular. I declare an interest as the president of Mencap. There is no doubt that the services that we are able to provide are being severely cut back because local authorities simply do not have the money to support those services. Where we used to get, say, £15 an hour, we get £12 an hour. The implication is that we can lower the standard of our services, but we are not prepared to do that. Therefore, we will end up reducing our services and, as a result, people with learning disabilities, their families and their carers will suffer. This is exactly the situation at the moment. Local authorities will try to provide the services, but they are making it much more difficult for voluntary organisations such as Mencap.
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