Clause 45 - Care Trusts where voluntarypartnership arrangements
Health and Social Care Bill
10:30 am
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
I welcome what the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Burstow) said in moving the amendment. He expressed his support, and that of the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Dr. Brand), for the principle behind care trusts. I suppose that one should accept small mercies when they are offered, and it is always nice when the Liberal Democrats support a Government policy. I shall try to deal with some of the problems raised by the hon. Members for Sutton and Cheam and for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne).
The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam will recognise that the amendment is modest and minor. He will not be surprised when I tell him that what it tries to do is fully covered by the Bill already. It is clear from clause 45 that care trusts are voluntary arrangements, in the sense that they are entered into by local authorities and the national health service. His suggestion that we need to make the role of the local authority explicit in applying to the Secretary of State for an order establishing a care trust is met already by the clause. The amendment is unnecessary.
The hon. Member for New Forest, West raised two concerns. They went slightly beyond the amendment, but I want to say something about them now. We are aware of many organisations' concerns about the model of care trusts that we propose in the Bill. However, I hope that none of us disagrees about the principle behind the care trust concept. We all know about the problem that we are trying to tackle. In our surgeries, we have all no doubt met constituents who felt that they had to navigate themselves around the care system, from pillar to post, between the NHS, social care and other agencies. For many, that is not a happy experience. In the past three and a half years, we have consistently tried to develop a much closer proximity between health and social care agencies. It is right in principle and practice that the two key and equal partners in the care system should more closely co-operate.
The hon. Gentleman is wrong to say that local authorities will lose responsibility for social services functions under clause 45. They will delegate functions but will retain overall responsibility for them, even in the context of a care trust. There is no question about where the overall social services responsibilities lie.