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Personal Care at Home Bill

That might well be the case if the person for whom care and support was needed was the cause of the delay. I suspect that that would cause some of the support that would otherwise be given free of charge not to be available anyway, because the person would not be ready to accept that level of care. The issue is the provision of care and what starts the requirement, under law, to make that care, which will be free of charge, available. That is what we have been concerned about. There is an ambiguity, to say the least, and probably an uncertainty, in the way in which the legislation is drafted. I do not think that this amendment is hugely challenging or controversial. It is, I hope, trying to give the Government's intent a better chance of being borne out in how the wording leads to decision-making behaviour from the people who will interpret the Bill in an administrative or legal capacity rather than necessarily any behaviour from those who are looking to receive the care. Amendment 21 is a probing amendment to ask the Minister to clarify who will be eligible for such care, and amendment 43, tabled by the Liberal Democrats, who will address the points that it raises, is on the question of palliative care. I am in sympathy with it and supportive of it. The regulatory impact assessment says that people receiving palliative care would be excluded from reablement. That seems quite harsh. As Help the Hospices has said:""people can receive palliative care alongside curative treatment (it's certainly not an either/or) and people can also receive palliative care for prolonged periods of time (for some, such as younger people with life limiting conditions, such care can go on for many years)"." I shall ensure that the Liberal Democrats have the chance to develop that point, but I think that it is important that we recognise it. It is a powerful point and we are grateful that they have tabled that amendment. The Minister stated in an answer to a parliamentary question on the number of cases in which people received palliative care that he had no idea what the median, mean and maximum life spans are for people receiving palliative care. I hope that he will be able to expand on the answer that he gave me on 7 December. That issue, in itself, will be of concern. In conclusion, as I want to keep the introduction to these amendments relatively brief, I think that the technical way to do this will be formally to suggest that although I will be happy, with leave, to withdraw the lead amendment in this group, I hope to have the opportunity to push amendment 18 to a vote and to test the opinion of the Committee on it, unless we hear some staggering response from the Minister, which is not expected.