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Business of the House

I was intending to commiserate with the hon. Gentleman because there was a superfluity of candidates for the deputy leadership of the Liberal Democrats, and he sadly came third. However, we live in hope, because the website that encourages such matters has already opened a book on the next leadership contest.With our sterling support, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman can only improve his position for next time. We welcome the Wanless report and I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman has not seen the Government’s response. We want to study it, and we believe that it endorses our vision as set out in the White Paper, ““Our health, our care, our say””. Everyone recognises that the social care system needs streamlining and reforming, and the report will help in a constructive debate about how to achieve that. I will take no lessons from the hon. Gentleman on ensuring the dignity of elderly people in retirement—an issue that this Government have concentrated, and will continue to concentrate, on. On housing, he is well aware of the significant changes in our society, which clearly mean that more people require housing. In fact, today, more people have a roof over their head than ever before. I recognise that some of the social changes mean that more people are on waiting lists and looking for accommodation, but that does not mean that they are homeless, in the sense that they have nowhere appropriate to live. As for communications with Australia, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that they are extremely good; indeed, the flight home is going well.