Member

I was pleased that there was strong cross-party support for Amendment 130, in the name of my noble friend Lord Scriven. What is important is that we have a way of understanding what the priorities and sequencing are: we absolutely understand that it cannot all happen in one go and that was one of the key reasons for bringing forward this amendment. I understand, of course, that the wording of these amendments may not have been perfect; I am sure that they could be improved. But the thinking behind them, that there is a need for a statutory backstop to the legislation that would prevent that can we keep hearing about being kicked ever further down the road, or the size of the cake that goes into mental health services being shrunk during the implementation period, is incredibly important.