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Personal Care at Home Bill

I do not care where the Bill was born or who dreamt it up; I am just extremely glad that I have stuck with it, right from the early days of the consultation paper when I considered these matters with my constituents. My constituents do not care either; they are just very pleased that we are able to be here today, giving the Bill a Third Reading. They believe that this is the right thing to do. It is easy to over-complicate the Bill. It is also easy to spend a whole day doing down its aims and objectives. We know, however, that it will benefit a significant number of people. Most of us—certainly those of us, on both sides of the House, who have taken a serious, forensic interest in the Bill from the word go—will completely understand that we would love to move straight to a national care system. Anyone who has worked in the care system, as I have, will know that that is our objective. I have to say, however, that the one true thing that the Bill does is to send a clear signal to our constituents that this Government are very keen to ensure that people receive the care that they need, free at the point of use, with the reassurance that they will be able to live their lives out in their homes if that is what they want. And that is what they want. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.