Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for campaigning on this issue, which is, of course, incredibly important, and has been particularly so during lockdown. Overall, we have massively increased our funding for mental health care to £12.5 billion, but we are also, as he knows, now publishing our national strategy for disabled people, which will cover all types of disability, including physical and mental health.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

On Monday, in announcing new immigration rules that will prevent people coming to work in social care, Ministers said that care workers should be paid more. That is right —they should. The chair of the Government’s Migration Advisory Committee said that they should receive around 50% more than current rates. The Government are the primary funder of social care, so will the Prime Minister commit to providing the additional money to pay those higher rates?

[The Prime Minister]

I can tell the House that we have already taken steps to support local authorities—through another £3.2 billion to support them, a £600 million contribution to fight infection—and we are incredibly proud of what our social care workers do. What this Government have done, in sharp contrast to the previous Government, is not only introduce a national living wage, but increase it by the biggest ever amount.