Social Care: Legislation

Baroness Greengross Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

As the noble Baroness will know, one of the main reasons that we wanted to engage widely in recent months with the sector was the very issue that she raised. The quality of social care, the training of those in the workforce and the supply of carers, both paid and unpaid, are concerns going into the future. As the noble Baroness will find out, this will be a major focus of the White Paper.

[Baroness Greengross]

My Lords, will the Minister reassure some of us who have worked closely with the Dilnot recommendations that the Government will take into account the huge savings to the NHS which, following the initial costs, will result from implementing the proposals? The cost of implementation is very limited compared with the huge annual costs of such care to the NHS. Adequate social care will remove much of that from the NHS.

[Earl Howe]

I take the noble Baroness’s point. Nevertheless, she will recognise that Ministers in government cannot ignore cost pressures arising from proposals such as those of Dilnot. We have calculated those costs at £2.2 billion. This is not money that can be drummed up easily. Nevertheless, we are looking at ways in which to address that particular issue.