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Health and Social Care Bill

Perhaps I may help on a point of clarification. Those requirements were debated at considerable length during the passage of the Care Standards Bill and they came from some building regulations which pre-dated that Bill by a very long way. Much of the initial discussion was fuelled by the issue of the dignity and privacy of individual users. I think I am right in saying that those requirements were rescinded because the drug and alcohol charities entered into discussions with the department and made a strong and powerful case that having people with drug and alcohol problems in seclusion in individual rooms was not conducive to therapy. The noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, is right that we should ensure that the requirements are proportionate. Again, that points to the importance of distinguishing between different client groups and different forms of social care. We have gone on about that at considerable length throughout this Committee stage, but it is a point that cannot be stated too many times or with too many illustrations in our debates. Therefore, it is helpful that this matter has been brought up.