Adult Social Care: Funding

Lord Skelmersdale Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is quite right that this issue has not been dealt with properly over a long time. The Green Paper has a wide remit and therefore will look at all the issues that she has brought to the attention of the House.

[Lord Skelmersdale]

My Lords, in a recent answer to a supplementary question, the Minister agreed with me that social care and health would operate properly only when they were under the same budget. Will the Green Paper go a little further and consider bringing them under the same management?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

As I said to the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, the Green Paper has a wide remit. It is trying to provide a comprehensive solution to social care funding, which has unfortunately eluded many Governments. In doing so, it naturally needs to look particularly at the interaction between health and social care. For many people now there is no particular distinction between those as they follow their journey, as it were, through the health and care system. The important thing is that the care is joined up and is of high quality.