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Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the Minister not only for his reassurances this evening on direct payments but on so many issues raised during the progress of the Bill. He and other Ministers have actually listened to the concerns raised in this House and taken action on them. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, that we are delivering a much better Bill to another place. The code of practice on direct payments which the noble Lord outlined may very well work well. It is a pity that he was not able to convince Sense, Voice UK, the Ann Craft Trust, Respond, Mencap and, possibly, Help the Aged. The first five sent us a heartfelt briefing asking us to press the matter with the Minister. I hope that they too are satisfied that the processes which the noble Lord outlined will work well. Can he reassure us that the situation will be monitored and the Government will keep a careful eye on how the code of practice works to ensure that our fears about people with malign intent gravitating towards those who make direct payments to avoid being caught up in the new robust system are not realised? I hope the Government will ask carers how they feel about having to ask for the check even though that is not mandatory but voluntary. Many noble Lords pointed out that it would be easier for carers to ask for the check when they knew that that they had to do so. If that could be monitored and reported back to the House at an appropriate stage, we would all be very grateful to know exactly how well it is working. I hope that our fears will prove groundless.