Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to outline minimum levels of pay explicitly for social care staff; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using the Agenda for Change job evaluation process for assessing adequate levels of pay for those staff.

The Department has no plans to outline minimum levels of pay specifically for social care staff and no assessment has been made of the potential merits of using the Agenda for Change job evaluation process for assessing levels of pay for those staff. Most care workers are employed by private sector providers who set their pay and terms and conditions, independent of Government.