Health and Social Care

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The pandemic and the cost of the pandemic have impacted both our health and our social care systems. As I have tried to explain to the House today, they are intimately related. The best way to put them on a sound footing—both of them on a sound footing—for the future is to treat them together and to put in the levy in the way that we are.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

We all know that the Prime Minister’s promises are a wee bit dodgy. Today, he promised that his extra taxes will go to the frontline, so by how much will he increase the pay for people in the social care profession or is it just going to be another round of applause?

[The Prime Minister]

People in the social care profession, overwhelmingly, are not paid by the Government as the hon. Member knows, but they are the beneficiaries of the living wage, which the Government have increased by record amounts. What we are doing is investing in their training, investing in their careers and making sure that they get the respect and the progression that they need.