Independent Commission on Adult Social Care

Baroness Burt of Solihull Excerpts

Wednesday 17th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord, as always, raises a fundamental point. One area that I have most concern about is that of transition. Some young people could be getting very valuable and profound support while they are of school age, but the transition into adulthood is where the gaps occur. We recognise this, and are working on a whole range of issues to make sure that they have opportunities. We need to make sure that every young person has the opportunity to thrive, whatever their background, whatever their health needs, and this Government are committed to do just that.

[Baroness Burt of Solihull (LD)]

My Lords, we spend about the same amount of money on supporting working- age adults as we do the elderly—about £11 billion per annum. We need to ensure that, within that expenditure, we enable people to have as good—indeed as gloriously ordinary—a life as possible. We obviously need to cover disabled people doing the mundane, day-to-day things, but we also need to give them the things that give them individual pleasure. What is the Minister’s view of the balance that people need for a fulfilling life, which we are surely all entitled to?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

In many ways, despite all the challenges, we are entering an interesting and exciting phase in terms of new technologies, digital awareness and understanding how we can better engineer communication, for example. The noble Baroness is of course absolutely right that everyone deserves to have access to those opportunities, but we need to make sure that everyone is known, their needs are known, and the support is there so that they can thrive.