The patchy and inadequate support that disabled children and their families receive is now well documented. So it is essential that the Disabled Children's Short Break Bill, drawn up and published by a coalition of charities, is adopted by whichever MP triumphs in the private member bill ballot on Thursday to ensure the issue gets a proper airing in the House of Commons.
Ultimately, though, it is the Chancellor's support that is key here. The Treasury has promised to consider the needs of disabled children in its wider review of services for children and young people that will feed into the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
If it does its homework properly, the Treasury will find evidence of the financial hardship and physical and mental exhaustion experienced by many of these families and documented so clearly by Mencap. And it will appreciate how these problems are being exacerbated up and down the country by rising eligibility criteria for support as budgets are cut.
If it does it's homework properly, the Chancellor will have no choice but to announce more resources for disabled children and their families. For these families, next summer's Comprehensive Spending Review cannot come soon enough.