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 am genuinely surprised that the hon. Gentleman asked that question because we have answered it on several occasions. We have made it clear that the responsibility for determining charges for social services will rest with the local authority. There is no question of charging for NHS services that are delivered by a care trust. They will remain free at the point of use, and that will remain the case as long as the Government are in office.
The hon. Member for New Forest, West raised another concern, which has been doing the rounds. He quoted the Leonard Cheshire organisation, for which I have a great deal of admiration and respect. It does an outstanding job for many disabled people. However, there is a misunderstanding here about the nature of care trusts. They will not somehow medicalise social care. It is clear from what we have said and how we envisage care trusts being established that there will be a distinctive role for social care services delivered under the umbrella of a care trust. We are not proposing some ideological shift in values and culture in relation to the delivery of social care services. We just want them delivered in a more coherent way, positioned more closely alongside the NHS, as equal partners in the care system. It is important that Committee members understand that we are not proposing that the establishment of care trusts will lead to the end of social services and the current concept of social care. That would be ridiculous.