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Personal Care at Home Bill

I have no great disagreement with amendment 11. I have thought about it, asked a few friends about it and I am perfectly happy with it. I think that amendment 12, which is a Henry VIII clause, is well drafted. I am not sure whether we fully understand the implications of the Bill. We have heard from the Minister that there will be a sort of big bang approach and that by this October all care will be free. We have also heard about the financial arrangements for local authorities, and I am not sure how robust they will be. I suspect that there might well be arguments, case law and disagreements on this issue, so it would be quite useful to have the ability to amend the legislation—even by regulation, whether by negative or positive procedures—as we do not know how this story will unfold. My right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Mr. Dorrell) has set out some of the difficulties regarding definition, and, at some point, the House might need to introduce regulations to make the system more workable. If we create a cliff edge by saying that care is paid for for those who stay at home but not for those who go into a care home, which means that some in the latter category might have to sell their home, we will be creating a pretty big incentive for families to try to keep people out of care homes. Given that the nature of the debate will change, we need a Henry VIII clause, and amendment 12 provides that perfectly well. In terms of public policy, I would be more confident about the way that things will unfold if I had more confidence in the financial arrangements. I referred earlier to the potential £250 million to be found from savings. When we get to October, real money coming into local authorities will suddenly disappear; they will still have to fund the cost of care, but they might not have the resources to do so. We have not discussed whether there might be a case for transitional arrangements, or whether there will be enough people to provide services to people in their own homes. Amendment 12 is therefore important, because it would enable the Secretary of State to return to the House with legislation covering new circumstances arising from the changes to home care introduced by this Bill that we cannot predict or fully understand at present. As was mentioned earlier, the Health Committee is to produce a report in due course that may inform the public debate. If amendment 12 is adopted, that report may result in further changes. The Government are consulting and may have to provide guidance. Will that guidance be presented through a statutory instrument, or will it have no statutory basis? We need to hear how the Minister intends to proceed. It would be useful if, when he sums up the debate, he takes the opportunity to set out what consultations and guidance the Government are undertaking. When does he expect the results to be reported? We need to be fully aware of the shape of things to come. Amendment 12 is useful, although I agree that Oppositions do not usually propose Henry VIII clauses. However, events may unfold in ways that we do not expect and, as I pray and hope, we may well form the Government after the next election.