Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for all the work that she and those in her office have been doing over many months to find a solution to this problem on behalf of the families of Peers who lack capacity. I know that it is the families that she has particularly in mind, and they certainly deserve our careful thought. The solution which has been adopted is an agile one, as has been said, which means that the House has ownership of the drafting of the Standing Orders and the mechanisms that are necessary. As it happens, it is exactly the kind of solution that the Supreme Court found for itself in 2009. It was provided with a set of rules which could be altered only by statutory instrument, and it decided instead to resort to practice directions of its own devising, which are flexible and can be changed as circumstances require. So, the mechanism is ideal and very much to be welcomed. I particularly welcome Amendment 3, which characterises the thoughtfulness of the noble Baroness. It means that the measure will come into force on the passing of this Bill and we will not have to wait until the end of the Session, which is surely absolutely right. Our thanks go particularly to the noble Baroness for the work she did long before the noble Lord, Lord Ashton, brought forward his amendment.