My Lords, I was very encouraged by the words of the Minister, but I am still rather worried. It was great to hear the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, who is so knowledgeable about autism. I am also very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, for his comments, and to the noble Lord, Lord Low, who made some very apposite points about prevention. If I were a director of adult social services and had very limited funds, I would have to concentrate on the people in the greatest need, and it would be likely that prevention would slip to a lower
level of my attention. This is the danger of preventive services not getting the attention that they need. I have yet to be totally convinced that prevention will prevail in the way that the noble Earl suggested. I hope that he is right.
We need a longer timeframe. It is difficult for local authorities to budget in that way, but it is essential if we are to focus on preventive services in the long run. I hope that, as we go through the remaining parts of the Bill, we can be clearer about how to ensure that prevention is at the top of our list. That will apply to eligibility criteria, which we will look at later. In the mean time, I thank all noble Lords who supported what I said and also my colleagues for their support. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.