§
Lords Amendment: No. 1, in page 1, line 8, leave out
to take such steps as are reasonably practicable
§ 12.38 a.m.
§ Mr. Alfred Morris (Manchester, Wythenshawe)I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
It has been put to me that the difference between the debates earlier tonight on the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Bill and the debates we are about to have on this Bill is that our impending debates will not be so disabling. There are hon. Members on 2005 both sides who feel that the debates on the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Bill were a mildly disabling experience.
The object of the Amendment is to ensure that we shall soon know for certain the full facts about the incidence of disablement in contemporary Britain. They may well prove unpleasant and even shocking, but we must know them, for that is the first precondition for improving the lives of disabled people. This and the subsequent Lords Amendments are extremely important. They fortify and improve the Bill whose provisions are awaited by well over 1 million longterm sick and disabled people and their families.
May I briefly and inadequately acknowledge the constructive help of my noble Friend Lord Longford who sponsored my Bill in another place? In promoting this and other Amendments he has done major service to the sick and disabled. The House knows of his deep and abiding concern for disadvantaged people and especially for severely handicapped people. By this and other Amendments he and his colleagues in another place have strengthened the Bill. Numerous of his colleagues in another place deserve our appreciation, including particularly my noble Friend Baroness Serota and her Ministerial colleagues. Many organisations and individuals outside the House have given help as valuable as it has been selfless, and I warmly thank them all. There are some who criticise our civil servants, but no one who knows the history of the Bill would share that criticism. In the matters covered by this and other Amendments, we have been met with unfailing help and co-operation from civil servants and many have done a great deal of overtime because of the Bill. They have contributed both humanity and practical idealism to the making of the Bill. They have proved once again that this House is served by the finest Civil Service in the world..
Mr. Giles Ecclestone of the Public Bill Office did great service in making the Bill possible. He is a distinguished servant of the House and I warmly acknowledge the help he gave me and hon. Members on both sides of the House in drafting the Bill in its original form. I should like also briefly to mention the 2006 late Mr. Julian Elliston, Parliamentary Counsel, who died tragically just before Report in this House. He did great work. We started last November with what was virtually a blank piece of paper but with one determined intention—to extend the welfare, improve the status and enhance the dignity of chronically sick and disabled people. In commending this the first of the Lords Amendments, I trust that it will be felt that we have not failed in our purpose.
§ Question put and agreed to.