Care: Budget

Debate between Baroness Jolly and Lord Clinton-Davis

Wednesday 28th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clinton-Davis]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to cut the care budget and, if so, by how much.

[Baroness Jolly (LD)]

My Lords, social care budgets are set by each individual local authority. This allows councils to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending decisions, based on local priorities and needs. In 2015-16, the better care fund will provide £5.4 billion of investment into better integrated care, from 1 April 2015, based on joint plans that have been developed locally.

[Lord Clinton-Davis (Lab)]

Does not the policy which the Government have declared in the past hit, in particular, the old and the vulnerable? Is it not a fact that £1 billion is being removed from the care budget, revealing that the Government are determined at all costs, whatever the price paid by poorer people, to reduce the role of the state and to punish those who cannot hit back? Why instead do the Government not deal with the bankers in the same way? Are they not primarily responsible for the position we are now in?

[Baroness Jolly]

My Lords, I can speak for local authorities but not, regrettably, for bankers. The Government have made care a priority, which is why we have given an extra £1.1 billion to help protect social care services this year, on top of the additional funding in recent years.