Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on social care reform.

The Government is progressing towards a National Care Service with a vision that everyone, regardless of their needs, background, or where they live, should have the opportunity to lead healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives.

We have made recent progress on key reforms, laying the foundations to turn this vision into reality, underpinned with over £4 billion of additional funding made available for adult social care by 2028. This progress has been aligned with the Government’s three objectives for adult social care, to:

- improve the quality of care by valuing and supporting our vital care workforce by legislating for a Fair Pay Agreement backed by £500 million of funding and expanding career opportunities through the Care Workforce Pathway, and investing £12 million in learning, development, and new qualifications. We're also supporting the Care Quality Commission to recover and become a confident, credible force for improvement, supported by their local authority assessments that shine a light on local authority performance;

- strengthen the join-up between health and social care services, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care, by developing neighbourhood health services and reforming the Better Care Fund. This will be underpinned by improved national data and digital infrastructure to ensure health and care staff can access real-time information to improve the safety and quality of care. For example, we have been driving the adoption of Digital Social Care Records (DSCR), with up to 89% of people drawing on care now benefiting from a DSCR; and

- enable people to have more choice and control over their care, for instance by promoting greater use of direct payments. We are also expanding care options to boost independent living at home through an additional £172 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant over two years, enabling approximately 15,600 extra home adaptations, and introducing care technology standards to help people choose the right support.