Baroness Thornhill
Main Page: Baroness Thornhill (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Baroness Thornhill (LD)
There is concern across the House about the crisis in social care. The spending review stated that the Government have,
“a preferred option for savings of at least £800 million”—
from the new homes bonus—
“which can be used for social care”.
Will the Minister provide reassurance that if such savings are not met, that will not impact on the already promised £1.5 billion for social care by 2019-20? Or is it perhaps time that the Government let local authorities make their own decisions about spending in their own areas, and that we got rid of caps and referenda so that local authorities could raise the money for their own needs?
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.