Social Care: Legislation

Earl Howe Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheeler]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the timetable for the draft Bill to modernise adult care and support in England announced in the Queen’s Speech and to what extent the proposals in the Bill follow the recommendations of the Dilnot commission.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, the Government have committed to publishing a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny this Session, and will outline plans for transforming care and support in the forthcoming White Paper. The Dilnot commission’s recommendations are hugely valuable. However, implementing them would have significant costs, which must be considered in light of the growing demand for social care, and of other priorities. We will set out the way forward in the progress report alongside the White Paper.

[Baroness Wheeler]

I thank the Minister for his response. However, with local authorities having to cut £1 billion from current social care budgets, does he not agree that there must be a package of reforms that will embrace current and long-term funding solutions, as well as the legal framework proposals expected in the White Paper and Bill? Will he reassure the House that the progress report accompanying the White Paper will contain a clear timetable for consultation on funding issues? Will he also reassure us that the Government intend to honour the Prime Minister’s pledge to deal with social care funding in this Parliament?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, this is the first reform of social care law in more than 60 years. It is a unique opportunity to get the legal framework right. That is why we have deliberately taken time to engage fully with those who have experience and expertise in care and support. Many people in the sector have called explicitly for scrutiny on a draft Bill, so publishing a Bill in this way demonstrates our commitment to working in partnership. We remain absolutely committed to introducing legislation at the earliest opportunity in this Parliament to establish a sustainable legal framework for adult social care. The draft Bill will be the critical next step in delivering the reform agenda.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff]

Will the Government reassure us that in considering adult social care they will also take into account the transitional needs of children with very complex needs as they grow older and transition to adult care, because many of them are in the last phase of their illness and will die in early adulthood?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Baroness raises the key issue of transition, which will be covered in the forthcoming White Paper.

[Baroness Barker]

My Lords, the Government will be aware of the report, Reforming Social Care: Options for Funding, published by the Nuffield Foundation in May. What is their response to the proposal that some universal benefits that currently go to wealthy pensioners should be restricted to enable the implementation of the Dilnot report?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend raises an issue that has been very much in our sights as we have prepared the progress report on funding. I can only ask her to be patient a little longer until the report is published.

[Baroness Pitkeathley]

My Lords, the Minister will know that many older people are concerned not only about how they will fund residential care, should they need it, but also about its quality. How will the White Paper ensure adequate and indeed satisfactory quality for the delivery of residential care, and also the competence of those who deliver it?

[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.

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, is the noble Earl telling us that the Bill will be only about funding? Following the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, can he assure us that there will be some sort of new training for those who will be doing a job that is half-way between that of a carer and that of a nurse? By losing the SENs we have lost a very powerful and useful facility that can operate in the middle. Surely there is a need for someone to bridge the gap between health and social care.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend raises an important issue, and I am sure that there will be an opportunity during the Bill’s passage to debate the subjects to which she referred. The draft Bill will be published after the Government publish their White Paper and the progress report on funding, and the Bill will set out the legislative framework for adult social care in the future. I have no doubt that noble Lords will wish to raise issues pertinent to that.

[Baroness Hollis of Heigham]

My Lords, the Minister has referred to drumming up finance for long-term care for older people. He will be aware that higher rate tax relief on pensions—as part of the total of £30 billion of tax relief—amounts to £7 billion a year. Were that money ring-fenced and redistributed within the same age group it could pay for Dilnot three times over. Will he consider looking at that as a source of funding for Dilnot?

[Earl Howe]

I shall make sure that the noble Baroness’s suggestion is fed in to the discussions currently in train on that subject.

[Lord Skelmersdale]

My Lords, recent press reports—in fact, they are not that recent—have concerned the quality of care, not least the care given by care assistants. In their consideration of this matter will my noble friend and his department consider the registration and suitability of care assistants?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, as my noble friend will recall, we debated this subject extensively during the passage of the Health and Social Care Act. The Government’s position is that voluntary assured registration is the way forward for the time being. However, we have not closed our minds to statutory regulation in this area.