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Personal Care at Home Bill

My hon. Friend makes an outstandingly good point, and that is precisely why we have been so concerned about the rushed nature of the Bill. We know its provenance: we know how its timing came about and how it must have been a hell of a sweat, in a certain room at a certain hotel, in a certain month—September—with a certain Prime Minister. That said, we should pause and ensure that we do not lose the many gains that we have made in this debate over many years, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood has observed. It is vital that we should see the Bill in that context. The whole point of amendment 12 is precisely as my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr. Syms) described. It is not just the whole context of the Green Paper that is important; there will, of course, be a vital need for guidelines. Indeed, in his response to the first group of amendments, the Minister talked about the need for guidelines and so forth. However, the timetable for those guidelines seems to be out of sync. It is my great hope—I will no doubt repeat this later in our proceedings this afternoon—that the Government will take seriously the point that there is a certain technical obligation on them, as well as a moral obligation, to ensure that they get the consultation and guidelines processed, reported and acted upon, with conclusions recommended as a result of that broad, wide-reaching and consensual consultation, before the issue is considered in the other place. Without that, there is a grave danger that the Bill will be rushed through both Houses without the benefit of accessing that broader church of opinion, which Government Members have been as keen as I have to ensure is accessed.