Care Bill [Lords]

David Ward Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)]

I had to leave the Chamber earlier, Madam Deputy Speaker, for an hour or so, but I assume we have been approached by similar groups and organisations that no doubt will have been quoted in previous speeches, so I might be able to curtail my remarks.

I begin by paying tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow), who has been heavily involved in this issue from day one, with the inception of the White Paper. I thank him for coming to Bradford and talking to people there about local issues, and I welcome his contribution tonight. This is probably the most important Bill we will be considering this Parliament, because it deals with one of the most important areas of public policy that we have to face. There is no choice about it; it is something we have to face. It has been referred to over the years as a ticking time bomb. The good news, of course, is that people are living longer, but that will be accompanied by an enormous cost if we are to ensure that people are provided with the quality of care that they are entitled to and desperately need. It is hugely important.

Like the hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham), I am confused by the reasoned amendment. I come from a place where people say what they mean and mean what they say, so I find it difficult to read a so-called reasoned amendment that is so scathing of a Bill and then listen to people say, “Well, actually, we’re not opposed to it and will not necessarily vote against it.” I do not understand that. Perhaps this is just a really strange place that I still need to spend more time in before I understand those things.

As I understand it, a Second Reading debate is about the principles, which is why I will avoid going into too many details. From my experience of working with many organisations and groups in the past few years, including very closely in the past 18 months or so, it seems to me that the principles in the Bill are pretty well applauded out there. There is a general acceptance that something needs to be done and that this is a pretty good attempt to lay down some basic principles. That was why the initial skirmishes and exchanges were disappointing.

[Paul Burstow]

My hon. Friend has taken a close interest in, and campaigned on, the Bill during its passage through the other place, and he said how widely welcomed it was outside the House. Would he be interested to know, therefore, that in almost every session of the scrutiny of the draft Bill—

[Paul Burstow]

I apologise to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have been here long enough to know that I should speak through the Chair.

I simply wanted to say that during consideration of the draft Bill, when asked, many people told us they had nothing by way of criticism of the Bill, although they saw areas where it could be further improved.

[Mr Ward]

I thank my right hon. Friend.

Acceptance of the principles—certainly acceptance of them by myself—is there, but as the Minister knows only too well, as I have bent his ear on the subject so many times, I have some serious concerns, particularly about the FACS—free access to care services—criteria. He will probably not know—it is a recent decision by Bradford council—that the Labour council has decided to move from “moderate” to “substantial” in respect of the criteria. It has to go into a budget process; unfortunately, this will happen. We campaigned hard against that, with a 1,700 names on a petition opposing it, but it is going to go ahead.

What was unfortunate about earlier exchanges was a certain degree of dishonesty. This thing did not happen all of a sudden three years ago. Conservative, Labour and possibly some Liberal authorities—I do not know—up and down the country were from 2005 onwards moving away from “moderate” to “substantial” FACS criteria way before the change of Government and way before the vicious cuts took place as part of the austerity programme. Indeed, it was before the recession really bit, and I regret that. What seemed to be happening was a “follow my leader” approach—“Every other authority seems to be doing this, so why shouldn’t we?” It was seen as a way of reducing the budget. What I argued, continue to argue now and will continue to argue all the way through until this Bill becomes an Act, is that this is a false economy. I have made all those points to the Minister several times, including, in detail, in a Westminster Hall debate.

I believe that eligibility is the gateway to care, but I am not convinced by the proposed savings that are supposed to be made. We worked closely with various organisations, including Scope, which has done a fantastic job of looking at the issue of working age disablement, which accounts for one third of benefit recipients. People desperately need care to live a more fulfilled life, whether it be in education or work. This is just one example—there are many others—where savings can be accrued, but taxation can also be generated if people are given just a small amount of support to become economically active.

Other charities and organisations have raised serious issues. Principles are most important, but data collection is crucial. Charities that exist to help people with Parkinson’s and other neurological conditions identified the fact that they had no idea how many people with Parkinson’s actually received social care. How can that be the case? How can that happen? Something must be sadly going wrong with data collection. Macmillan Cancer Support pointed out that free social care at the end of life needs to be a crucial element of any changes we are looking to make and that, if we aim for true integration, we must have proper identification of carers within their health settings. We should not wait until people are turned out of hospital and go home before identifying who is going to look after the person and provide support. Leonard Cheshire Disability provided further useful information, and I ask the Minister to look further into some of the issues it raised.

Important principles are at issue here. On the national criteria, I may not like the level, but it is important to have standardisation. On the carers assessment, we should be applauding the fantastic proposal to make carers the centre of attention, as they are so often forgotten. How many times have carers ended up being the people who need care because of the lack of support they receive? A young person I know has come to my office on a regular basis to express serious concerns about the people he was caring for, but I have seen with my own eyes that person deteriorate over the last 12 months or so as a result of the lack of support that he has received. The Bill introduces a wonderful innovation, which we should all appreciate.

I have already mentioned the principle of integration. We have the framework: the health and wellbeing boards are still in their early days, but this way of bringing together the different parts of social care, public health and the national health service is so important. The links between health and social care are crucial. I cited a case in the Westminster Hall debate of a man in his 50s who had an accident at work when reversing his vehicle. He had no seatbelt on, as he was just backing into the car park, yet he became tetraplegic. He was in Pinderfields hospital for five months. He received superb support and everyday attention, but when he went home in the ambulance, he could not get into the house because there was no ramp. He had to go away again. Then the local authority provided the money for a ramp and the hospital brought him back again, but he could not get in because it was a wooden ramp and they did not dare take him on it because that would have broken it. That is madness in this day and age, and it needs to be dealt with.

On the cap on lifetime payments, we do of course need to discuss in detail what it should be and how it should be operated, but please let us not talk it down, because an incredibly important new public policy is being put forward here, which we should applaud.

Let us try to forget what happened earlier. It was unpleasant to see and I do not think it truly represents the true passion and commitment of people on both sides of the House to improving social care for the people of this country.