Social Care

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question. I am not able to answer it directly now, but I will send an answer.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, further to the question from the right reverend Prelate, I understand the concern that the proceeds from the ring-fenced levy may not be enough to relieve all the pressure on social care. So will the Minister encourage the NHS trusts, which are receiving the bulk of the extra funds, to use Section 75 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to commission social care, thereby taking some of the pressure off local authorities?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for that suggestion, and I will take it back. What we have to remember about the way social care is funded is that, in reality, it is mostly private providers that provide social care, and these are funded by private and state-funded patients. Quite often, we find it is private patients who cross-subsidise state-funded patients. I will take the question from my noble friend back and send an answer.