My Lords, it is always a pleasure and an honour to follow the noble Lords, Lord Ashley of Stoke and Lord Morris of Manchester. Like them, I most warmly welcome this Bill and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this Second Reading debate. I have a long-standing interest in and awareness of the difficulties facing carers of people with a learning disability, both from my personal experiences of having a 52 year-old daughter and a three year-old grandson both with Down's Syndrome—the same as Sam—and as President of the Royal Mencap Society.

Nine years ago, I introduced the Disabled Persons and Carers (Short-term Breaks) Bill into this House. The Bill sought to guarantee that every carer would have their short-term break needs assessed and met. Despite having cross-party support in both Houses, with the noble Lord, Lord Morris—then Alf Morris MP—trying to get it through the other place, the Bill was not taken up by the government of the day, leaving many carers struggling to cope. Over the past decade, there has been continued growth in awareness of the issues facing carers, but there is still a great deal of work to be done. I am therefore very pleased that this Government have decided to support this important Private Member's Bill.

The role of a carer for someone with a severe learning disability is usually full-time and a lifelong commitment. Medical advances and the beginnings of a welcome change in attitudes among healthcare professionals mean that adults with profound learning disabilities are living longer. Family members can therefore be carrying out their caring role well into their seventies and eighties, which is a huge contribution on behalf of society. We must therefore support carers in every way that we can and begin to see them as requiring support both in and outside their caring role.

It is particularly appropriate for us to be considering this Bill today during national Learning Disability Week. This year, Mencap has launched a new campaign, Treat me right!, to highlight the poor treatment that people with a learning disability often receive in their dealings with the NHS. The Treat me right! report shows that carers are often left to pick up the pieces of poor treatment. Many carers are not confident that the most basic needs of their loved one will be attended to in hospital, or even in the GP's surgery, leading to an unnecessary pressure that has knock-on effects for both the carer and the cared-for person. As such, I hope that all your Lordships who are here to support the Bill today will also support the report from the Treat me right! campaign.

Clause 1 will ensure that all carers are informed of their right to a carer's assessment. That is incredibly important. Mencap's Breaking Point campaign, which was launched during last year's Learning Disability Week, found that eight out of 10 families caring for a person with a profound learning disability were at breaking point; six out of 10 of those families had never had a carer's assessment; and five out of 10 had not had their support packages reviewed in the past year. I hope that Clause 1 will begin to address these often heartbreaking situations.

Of course, in order to be of real benefit to carers, assessments must actually meet the needs of the carer. Clause 2 of the Bill is admirable, and I hope that it will be valuable to carers who wish to lead a life outside their caring role. Unfortunately, too often it has been the case that, even with legislation, carers do not get what they need. Obviously, resources play a major part in this, as can an authority's unwillingness to accept the carer's real needs, but it can also be because different authorities are not working together effectively. I hope that Clause 3 will address this last issue, although other authorities are required to give only "due consideration" to calls for assistance from a local authority.

Having heaped praise on the Bill, I have one major concern. As it is worded, no safeguards are in place to ensure that local authorities comply fully not only with the stated words but also with the broader intention of this legislation. It is worth reminding your Lordships that the Bill started out as a call for "equal opportunities for carers". While the Government felt that that was too broad a term to be included in the Bill, it is still very important that carers feel confident that their local services will support them to lead fulfilling lives outside their caring role.

As such, I hope that the Government will commit to ensuring the Bill's proper implementation by encouraging local authorities to meet their duties—perhaps through such overworked mechanisms as performance indicators. As we all know only too well, legislation is only as effective as its implementation, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister how the Government intend to monitor the implementation of this Bill so that my concerns can be assuaged.

I shall conclude now by reiterating my support for this important Bill and by expressing my gratitude to Dr Hywel Francis for bringing it before Parliament and to the Government for supporting it.