Earl Howe: I support entirely what the noble Lord, Lord Addington, has just said. I was astonished to read the wording of Clause 54(1)(b). It begs all kinds of questions. The most significant point about it is its ostensible conflict with the Disability Discrimination Act. We really must ask what the provision is supposed to mean. What criteria will be used to assess someone's state of health and what...
Earl Howe: moved Amendment No. 101: Page 15, line 25, at beginning insert ("Subject to subsection (3) below,").
Earl Howe: In moving Amendment No. 101 I wish to speak also to Amendment No. 105. This is a simple issue. Clause 30 states that local authorities and NHS bodies who wish to delegate the provision of home care to an agency may do so only if the agency is a registered domiciliary care agency. I do not in the least disagree with that as a generality. However, I would not wish it to mean that individuals...
Earl Howe: No doubt I shall finish with some relief to all noble Lords. As regards my own amendments, I am most grateful to the Minister for his clarification on the issue of direct payments. He has satisfied a great many people who were uncertain and doubtful about the effects of the Bill on the direct payment scheme. I am delighted to discover that there will be no effects whatsoever. I beg leave to...
Earl Howe: Once again, we have had a useful short debate. I am grateful to the Minister for covering the ground so comprehensively. I am particularly grateful to him for saying that he will take away Amendment No. 90 to see whether there is merit in what I say. I entirely understand that there will be strong arguments for inspectors making inspections of care homes and other establishments outside...
Earl Howe: I strongly support the thrust of this amendment. It is important that the commission should not, as it were, simply be the recipient of dicta from on high and implement those instructions. It should have a proactive role in the setting of standards and in relating national minimum standards to what is experienced on the ground and in proposing, up the tree, so to speak, improvements and...
Earl Howe: moved Amendment No. 88: Page 13, line 33, after ("time") insert ("in the event of an emergency, and (b) during normal business hours in all other circumstances,").
Earl Howe: In moving this amendment, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 89, 90, 95, 97, 109 and 110. These amendments all relate to the ground rules which should apply to the conduct of inspections. Clause 28 is drafted in a way which is rather too accommodating to the inspectors and insufficiently accommodating to those who are to be inspected. The vast majority of inspections will be carried out in...
Earl Howe: At that point I must have been paying insufficient attention when the Minister was speaking and I apologise for that. I am most grateful to him. I should like to point out that the two significant items of expenditure required under Fit for the Future? are, I believe, to enlarge the width of doors to 0.8 metres and to provide three double sockets in each bedroom. I have been advised that...
Earl Howe: I am grateful to the Minister for that response. I am not sure whether the Government have reached the point of thinking about how, and to what extent, the setting of national minimum standards will be reflected in planning regulations, which I do appreciate falls outside the remit of the noble Lord. Nevertheless, if national minimum standards are laid down, in however discretionary a way, it...
Earl Howe: I thank the Minister for covering the ground so comprehensively. I wish to respond only briefly. I am reassured by the intention of the Government to consult widely on each set of draft minimum standards. That will be a good thing. However, the reason why I wanted to put the amendment on the face of the Bill is that, while it is acceptable for the Minister to express what is undoubtedly a...
Earl Howe: moved Amendment No. 80: Page 12, line 14, at end insert-- ("( ) In preparing or amending the standards set out in the statements, the appropriate minister shall consult any persons whom he considers it appropriate to consult.").
Earl Howe: In moving the above amendment, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 81 and 82. I start with some warm words for the Government's aims. No one can be against the idea of raising standards. It is a self-evidently desirable objective to which the Bill rightly devotes a great deal of attention. A perfectly natural extension of that aim is the thought that there should be standards of care below...
Earl Howe: Once again that is an extremely helpful and reassuring response from the Minister. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Earl Howe: moved Amendment No. 58: Page 11, line 9, after first ("of") insert ("either-- (a)").
Earl Howe: In moving Amendment No. 58, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 59. The principle of subsection (2) of Clause 20 is difficult to argue against. Clearly, it is right, in the interests of public protection, that those who look after vulnerable people in a care home or other establishment are properly qualified for the purpose. Part of that qualification is that they should have proved...
Earl Howe: I am once again extremely grateful to the Minister. Obviously, the whole question of staffing ratios is an important matter. I do not seek to evade that point for one second. Neither would I suggest that the law should be weakened in any way. My point was simply how do you specify what the correct ratio should be when user needs vary so very widely once one has brought together those two...
Earl Howe: Yes, I entirely agree. It is the fact that there are other quality indicators that means that so many care homes out there would fail to meet the standards in one way or another if Fit for the Future? were to be enshrined in regulation or at least in ministerial direction. It is not simply room size and staffing ratios that are proving the problem for a number of places. I think that this has...
Earl Howe: I express my thanks to the Minister for that very comprehensive reply. Obviously, I shall read carefully what he has said and reflect on it. I am particularly grateful for what he said about the two amendments regarding the definition of "welfare". That was most helpful. Of course, I understand that in any Bill of this kind a balance must be struck between the amount of regulation that will...
Earl Howe: I am grateful. I must obviously take that very seriously. As regards record-keeping, I stress that I am not in the least worried about that provision appearing in the Bill. Clearly, records must be kept and kept properly. But Clause 20(1)(f) seems to be a new provision compared with what is in the 1984 Act. It refers to, "the management and control of the operations of an establishment or...
