---

Personal Care at Home Bill

We will have to have that debate when we bring forward our proposals for a national care service. The questions will be to do with how we take those proposals forward, and what is a fair, affordable and simple system for providing better care for people, both in their own homes and in residential institutions as well. That is a debate that we will initiate in the near future, and I am looking forward to having it. The right hon. Member for Charnwood said that our proposals were anomalous and acted as a perverse incentive, but when I challenged him he was unable to defend the home protection scheme that the hon. Member for Eddisbury proposed. That proposal is a private insurance scheme which, to protect a person's home—hence its name—covers only residential care. The costs are paid up front, although people need to have £8,000 to be able to afford it. It is optional—in other words, not everyone will take part in it—and partial. I have no doubt that it will exclude people with any underlying health condition, as they would not be able to get such insurance for the price £8,000. The hon. Member for Eddisbury is going to struggle to sell his home protection scheme, because it would merely provide a small amount of support for a minority group of wealthy people. If he thinks that that will win him the next general, he has another think coming.