Children and Families Bill

My Lords, I had hoped that we were making a bit of progress, but I am having a kind of throwback moment. When many of us first started getting the issue of carers on to the social policy agenda—many noble Lords here will remember that—I used to be told, “Oh, you can’t think of the needs of carers. The needs of the disabled person or the older person have to be paramount and you’ve got to think of those first. If you look at the rights of carers, you’re going to undermine those roots”. I am hearing the same argument tonight and I find it extremely disappointing. However, we made progress on the other matter: everybody now understands that you can look at the rights of the disabled or older person and the rights of carers and not undermine either of them—the two are inextricably entwined. Therefore, I continue to hope that we will still be able to make progress. We have fundamentally failed to get Ministers and their officials to understand that there is a difference between being the parent of a disabled child and being a parent. There is a fundamental difference and it needs to be looked at. Having had the support of so many of my noble colleagues tonight, I feel that I have a window to come back to this on Report. However, in the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.