Wednesday 14th April 2021

(2 years, 11 months ago)

Grand Committee
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Baroness Jolly Portrait Baroness Jolly (LD) [V]
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My Lords, I join others in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for introducing this excellent debate.

I hope that once the pandemic is behind us, commissioners and funders of care services will look at the commissioning process as a way of ensuring that the financial exchange with providers is for more than hotel services—bed, board, warmth and safety—whether we are discussing the care of older people or that of people with a learning disability. Many policy decisions about social care are automatically made thinking about the needs and care of older people. Often there needs to be a reminder that soon the number of adults with a learning disability will be greater than the number of adults who have reached the age when they can no longer care for themselves.

We all want to be part of an inclusive society, even if not everyone can articulate that wish. For three years I was the chairman of a charity that supported several thousand adults with a learning disability across England. Many live in regular houses in regular streets, supported by a team of carers who work night and day to give those in their care a fulfilling life. Trips to the shops, visits to a bowling alley, an evening at a pizza restaurant and annual holidays are all part of their lives. Many keep in touch with their families, but sometimes, confident that their children are being cared for well, families are not as regular as hoped for with their contact. All who can have a job, from working in a garden centre or waiting at table in a café to working in the maternity unit at one of Yorkshire’s largest teaching hospitals. All potential employers are vetted and have nominated a member of staff responsible for the well-being of these special employees. At the end of the day, when they go home, they have earned their pay. They do what their parents do: they hold down a worthwhile job and are a small part of the inclusive society to which we all aspire.

This is not cheap, and nor should it be. An accident of birth is no reason to deny the pleasures of life to someone who has cognitive problems; nor is it a reason to deny them the opportunity to be part of society and hold down a job. For the most part, their care is carried out by care workers on the basic minimum wage, who see the humanity in their charges, not the problems, and get huge job satisfaction from little successes.

Of course, working across many local authorities poses difficulties. Different commissioners work in different ways. Some look at an individual’s needs and commission accordingly; others put an amount on a year’s care without taking into consideration the nature of the care. To complicate things even more, a home’s residents will not all have the same commissioners but will all receive the same standard and level of care.

In the much-awaited care Green Paper, the Government need to ensure that local authorities have the funds to commission meaningful lives for those in their charge. This means that commissioners should be imaginative and willing to listen to different conversations about services delivered. If this can be delivered by good working relationships between providers and commissioners, both partners will ensure that those for whom they are responsible will live in as near to an inclusive society as possible. I hope that the Minister agrees.