Baroness Buscombe
Main Page: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Viscount Younger of Leckie
We have consistently made it clear that we believe it is right to devolve responsibility down to the local level, to allow people to make their own decisions and for authorities to decide themselves what their needs are. That is a very important point for devolvement.
Baroness Buscombe (Con)
Will my noble friend accept that care delivered to the home relies to a large extent on the private sector, and that more and more companies in the private sector that have been delivering this care are now finding it completely unviable to continue? In that case, as the noble Baroness who asked the Question in the first place has suggested, it will create much more pressure on the already very stretched NHS.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
My noble friend makes an important point. It is true that we are very aware of the increased need over the coming years, not just the next five but the next 20 or 30, to look after our older people. One of the issues is to aim to allow people to live independently and a lot of resources are going into helping with that, which takes some of the pressure off the NHS.