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Burstow says ministers ‘know social care funding risks’
Liberal Democrat conference: Ministers ‘know social care funding risks’
Government ministers “know what will happen” if they fail to fund social care adequately and end up “shunting” costs onto the health service, the Liberal Democrat care services minister has admitted.
Paul Burstow told a fringe meeting at his party’s conference in Liverpool that he and fellow ministers were aware of the need to avoid under-funding social care.
He said:
“That is the conversation we are having at the moment. We know what will happen if we do not take certain action. We know everyone else knows that.
“We are working hard to make sure that the most vulnerable in our society are protected most.”
He said he and fellow ministers at the Department of Health were in intense discussions with other government ministers and the Treasury about social care.
And he said party members would have the chance on 20 October – when the government publishes the results of its spending review – to “see if that pledge is redeemed sufficiently”.
Burstow said that he saw the personalisation of services as “a key way in which people really do have control over their lives and services”.
He said: “There is a very strong real case for doing it. It doesn’t cost more, it uses the resources better. People feel they are getting a better service because they are in control of it.”
He also stressed the vital importance of user-led organisations in providing support for disabled people.
But asked by Lisa Frith, of Merseyside People First – which faces uncertainty over its city council funding after next spring – what he could do to “make sure groups like ours get funding”, he said he could not make promises “from the centre”.
But he said he could help to “create a climate” in which local authorities “understand that they are the guardians of the tax-payers’ money and are not there for their own self-interest”.
Burstow’s comments came as a survey of 56 local authorities by the older people’s charity Counsel and Care found more than half said they would be cutting budgets in social care or reducing the range of services available.
Six councils said they were considering increasing charges for home care, with another four known to be already consulting on increasing charges.
Re: Burstow says ministers ‘know social care funding risks’My pessimistic shoulder is shouting, sounds like fewer professionals and more family/voluteer carers will be put out to do the increasing level of need for less ££
So much sounds like a paper exercise as to who gets the funding and where they can out-source the service, but the shop floor practical will suffer.
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Burstow says ministers ‘know social care funding risks’@mesamb wrote:
Liberal Democrat conference: Ministers ‘know social care funding risks’But he said he could help to “create a climate” in which local authorities “understand that they are the guardians of the tax-payers’ money and are not there for their own self-interest”.
As soon as I read that I knew this guy, like most politicians, really doesn’t have a clue. There’s no such thing as tax-payers’ money! Tax is raised from we, the people, and although we may have representation we really don’t have any choice. The money then becomes HMG’s and ministers decide when and where to spend it. It is HMG’s money when well spent and Tax-payers’ money when wasted, but, as a tax-payer, have you ever tried to ask for your money back or even to influence where it gets spent?
Local authorities are no more complicit at spending money unwisely than any ministry either, and there’s nothing like a minister to act of out of their own self-interest.
Re: Burstow says ministers ‘know social care funding risks’@tygertyger wrote:
Local authorities are no more complicit at spending money unwisely than any ministry either, and there’s nothing like a minister to act of out of their own self-interest.
You reminded me of something my late father used to say. When there was a tv report about a new road being built ‘improving the infrastructure and cutting down travel time’, Dad would say “Hello, a new MP wants to get home in-time for supper”
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
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