Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to create a social care workforce strategy to regulate fluctuations in agency rates.

The vast majority of care workers, including agency workers, are employed by private organisations who set their pay. Both the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage apply across social care and we expect local authorities to work with providers to determine a fair rate of pay.