Clause 4 - Liability to make delayed discharge payments
Community Care (Delayed Discharge etc.) Bill
5:30 pm
Ms Jacqui Smith (Minister of State, Department of Health; Redditch, Labour)
Of course, like all social services authorities, East Sussex has received at least a 3.5 per cent. increase in funding in real terms. What priorities local politicians in East Sussex decide to set is up to them. The hon. Gentleman is waving a sheet a paper. If he had listened to the statement of my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government last week, he would have heard him spelling out clearly the guarantees that there will be an increase in resources.
Opposition Members argue for flexibility and local decision making, but when they are given a 3.5 per cent. increase they complain that they will not be able to prioritise social services within it. We have made available considerable extra resources for the next three years—a 6 per cent. real-terms increase from next
year. The aim must be to ensure that that money is used to develop the sort of services that we need for older people.
I acknowledge that there are issues about care home capacity and staffing capacity in some parts of the country. I do not accept that capacity issues are beyond the control of any council. That is where we differ—[Interruption.] Conservative-controlled Worcestershire county council might have problems, but I still argue that the responsibility for capacity rests with local government. If hon. Members would like to make a case for removing responsibility for community care provision from local authorities, let them make it.