Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing.

The Department has not made an assessment. We believe the duties of such a role are covered by work elsewhere in the system. For instance, the Chief Nurse champions and raises the profile of nursing in social care and works alongside the Chief Social Worker for Adults, to increase the recognition and appreciation of all social workers in the care sector.

Baroness Casey, as part of the independent commission, has been tasked to start a national conversation about what care and support working age adults, older people, and their families should expect from adult social care.

The commission is tasked with producing tangible, pragmatic recommendations that can be implemented in a phased way over a decade. It will aim to make adult social care more productive, preventative, and to give people who draw on care, and their families and carers, more power in the system. Baroness Casey will report on medium-term recommendations in 2026, and longer-term recommendations by 2028.

The 10-Year Health Plan will also set the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for older people. It will set out how to support and enable health and social care services, and wider services, to work together better to provide that joined-up care.