Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that people can access care locally.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out an agenda for change, to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention.

To achieve these shifts, we want to ensure that people can access high-quality adult social care when they need it, alongside support in the community that keeps people independent and prevents needs from escalating. That is why the Prime Minister has set out his vision for a National Care Service, providing free personal care for older people, which will sit alongside our National Health Service.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authority in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.