My Lords, I have only a few more remarks to make. I was explaining the measures that we would take centrally and nationally to inform the public, including door drops to 2.5 million households and articles in the national media, as well as local radio and digital activity. The first phase, which focuses on people already receiving services, began late last year and is planned to continue through to April 2016. Scoping is also under way for a behaviour change campaign to encourage people to prepare for care and support needs as part of their wider financial planning.
The noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, questioned whether the final version of the regulations described the current level of access to care and support in an adequate way. We have commissioned the PSSRU to evaluate the final version of the eligibility regulations so that we can further our understanding of their impact. It will carry out its evaluation during the summer, when the regulations have been in use for six to eight weeks, and will report in August. However, there is no reason why people currently receiving care and support have to lose their access to this because of the introduction of the national eligibility threshold. The Care Act provides people with the assurance that local authorities must meet needs that meet the national threshold and, as I mentioned earlier, authorities can also decide to meet needs that are not eligible—in other words, they can meet needs that are considered moderate. Therefore, there is flexibility for local authorities in that sense.
To the extent that I have not been able to answer questions, I shall of course write to noble Lords. However, I hope that with those comments the Committee will be sufficiently reassured to approve these sets of regulations.