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Personal Care at Home Bill

Amendments 11 and 12 are intended to allow secondary legislation to stop the six-week restriction on free personal care. Amendment 12 is the operative amendment, upon which the House may wish to express its opinion depending on what the Government say. I flag up the fact that although it is not the lead amendment, it will be the appropriate one on which to divide if there is to be a Division. It is somewhat disingenuous of the Minister to suggest that the provision in question is the direction of travel of the Green Paper. It is in fact a fully taxpayer-funded option, which was previously rejected by the Government in explicit terms, not least by the Secretary of State and the present Minister, because the working population of this country is shrinking as a proportion of the total population. That has been discussed and is widely recognised both in this place and by many experts and advisers outside. I refer the Minister to the Secretary of State's reply when he was keenly questioned by Members of his own party below the gangway. He resisted their calls for taxpayer-funded options for social care, saying that it would not be""fair across the generations to ask the working age population to pay"" for care. He continued by saying that""it would not be honest or straightforward to give the impression that we can fully fund a care system entirely from general taxation."—[Official Report, 29 October 2009; Vol. 498, c. 479-81.]" We agree, and that is part of the challenge in the Green Paper that we are all considering. However, this Bill proposes, for the class of people outlined in it, to provide an option for care fully funded by taxation. That is inconsonant, to put it one way, with the direction of the travel in the Green Paper, although some might call it disingenuous. The Minister confessed, in a parliamentary answer:""It is very important not to conflate the funding for a national care service with the funding for the Government's Personal Care at Home Bill. The Green Paper"—" unlike this Bill—""is about building a sustainable system for the future".—[Official Report, 5 January 2010; Vol. 503, c. 277W.]" We all agree with that, but does it mean that the Minister is suggesting that this Bill is not sustainable for the future? Does he in fact agree with the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Mr. Dorrell) in the debate on the previous group of amendments that the Bill is a step along a path that may be distinguishable in legal terms, but will certainly be superseded in policy and legislation terms. That is a genuine question, and it is why we have included enabling powers in amendment 12. The Minister has also said in a parliamentary answer that the measure in the Bill""was not considered in the Green Paper"—" that is a confession—""because it is a step towards that National Care Service. The Green Paper puts forward fundamental proposals".—[Official Report, 9 December 2009; Vol. 502, c. 497W.]" If this is not a fundamental proposal, does that mean that the Government plan it only as an interim measure? The best way for the Government to make earnest on their pledge that this Bill is a step towards the full reform of social care would be to make this Bill more enabling in terms of additional policy options. One of those could be our asset protection scheme, which would involve the option of paying £8,000 at age 65 by those who have sufficient assets. Those who do not have such assets would continue to be protected, and those who did not take up the option would be in no worse position than they are today. Those who did take up the option would be entitled to residential care for life, should it be necessary. Who is to say that similar schemes could not work alongside the Government's measure in domiciliary care? We are not precious about the scheme, and it would provide an opportunity to widen the Bill and bring in a much more comprehensive approach that would genuinely be consonant with the Green Paper, which was welcomed—and urged on the Government—by both sides of the House.