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Personal Care at Home Bill

I am extremely grateful to my right hon. Friend, whose expertise and experience in this area are matched by none in the House and few outside it. We know the provenance of the Government's proposals as set forth in the Bill—we know that it was a rushed job, with only a 20-minute clearance time between decision and announcement at the Labour party conference—but even putting that to one side, he is quite right that it is vital to consider who is to be included. That question warrants proper scrutiny, because the fact that some people will be included means, by whatever definition is used, that the rest are excluded, and that will cause potential injustice. My right hon. Friend will find that in our discussions on later amendments, although I am conscious of how difficult it will be to remain in order, because things are so tightly drawn, not least the selection of amendments. That has been extremely constrained by the deliberately tight drafting by the Government of the money resolution, to try to exclude discussion on the much wider processes promised in the Green Paper and suggested by others, who have made some extremely interesting and sensible proposals in considering the reform of whole social care, rather than one small aspect of it, relative to the overall demand. I suspect that my right hon. Friend's concerns will be most clearly addressed when we come to an important discussion on compliance—how we ensure retained compliance with the European convention on human rights and the ability of the Secretary of State to issue the certificate under the Human Rights Act 1998, as stated on the front of the Bill. I very much hope that my right hon. Friend will have the opportunity to look at that aspect when we reach that point. Building on what my right hon. Friend has just helpfully mentioned, the Bill attempts to cut out residents of care homes from eligibility for free care. Last year, 50,000 people—yes, fortunate people, but also hard-working people who have done the right thing in investing, perhaps through a mortgage, in their own homes—had to sell their homes to pay for their long-term care, notwithstanding the fact that some sales did not occur until after people had died. That applied under a system that is available, but not often taken up, concerning whether people sell at the time they enter care or, indeed, when they leave it—under the home protection scheme or whatever.