Reform of Social Care

Baroness Keeley Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

My hon. Friend makes a fair point. It was clear that had we sought to publish a White Paper before Christmas, the net effect would have been that we did not give the public, stakeholders or the official Opposition the time needed to discuss the issue and to do the job properly .

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

It is clear that there are two issues: not just the future funding of social care but the current funding—the crisis referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey). Only 15% of councils are now meeting moderate need, but that figure used to be 50%. The Secretary of State cannot say that there is no crisis. It seems to me that building a future funding solution rests on not letting current provision deteriorate much further—but it is deteriorating rapidly. What, then, will Ministers do beyond the excellent cross-party work that probably will go forward to do something about the resources that are leaking away and the current crisis in provision?

[Mr Lansley]

I do not believe I did say that there was no crisis. The hon. Lady and the House must recognise, however, that last year the Dilnot commission, in an interim report, sought additional support specifically for social care and that we provided it through the local government grant and a transfer of resources from the NHS. She says that few authorities now provide social care for those with moderate needs, but that has been the product of years of change—it has been happening for many years. That creates a risk, but we are addressing that risk through the transfer of NHS resources and by helping people with lower levels of need through home adaptations, community equipment and reablement if they leave hospital, in order to make certain that we avoid the risk that we are running: of large numbers of people with moderate need falling rapidly into severe need.