Personal Care at Home Bill passes final Commons stages
13 January 2010 (updated on 22 April 2010)
The remaining stages - Committee, Report and Third reading - of the Personal Care at Home Bill were taken in the House of Commons. The Bill now moves to the Lords
- Video and Audio: Personal Care at Home Bill
- Commons Hansard: Personal Care at Home Bill
- Bills before Parliament: Personal Care at Home Bill
- About Parliament: Passage of a Bill
- Topical Issues: Community care
The Bill
The proposed legislation will cover the following:
- Provide for those with the greatest care needs to be offered free personal care at home
- Existing powers allow local authorities to provide certain community care services free of charge for up to six weeks. The Bill will remove this time limit for personal care at home for those in the greatest need
- The Government estimates that the Bill would help around 400,000 people and guarantee free personal care for the 280,000 people with the greatest need. The legislation is intended to be the first step towards establishing a new National Care Service
Committee of the whole House
The Bill was discussed by a Committee of the whole House.
Usually, when a Bill passes its second reading and is considered in detail, this takes place in a Public Bill Committee held outside the Chamber. But occasionally a Bill will be considered by a Committee of the whole House and this discussion takes place in the Commons Chamber itself.
Any Bill can be referred to a Committee of the whole House, but the procedure is normally reserved for finance Bills and other important or controversial legislation.