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Health and Social Care Bill

My Lords, I strongly support the amendment. I am delighted that my noble friend Lady Campbell was well enough to return and put the amendment so movingly. I am a commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission and vice-president of the Local Government Association, which is worried about extra costs and burdens. I honestly feel that if this amendment is seen to be necessary, the Government’s role is to encourage local authorities to take it seriously and ensure that local authorities are given sufficient resources. It is important that we enable older people and disabled people who live in this country to feel that the system is fair to them. It cannot be fair if you are caught just because you want to move from one locality to another. Everything that is said about different levels of care and service provision in different parts of the country militates against that feeling of fairness. That is quite wrong. It would cost very little in real terms and would enable disabled and older people who need services, educational opportunities and a proper family life to move without feeling that they would be terribly disadvantaged by doing so.