Clause 7
Health Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Mike O'Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health; North Warwickshire, Labour)
We certainly regard social care as enormously important and on a par with health care. For much of the time, the two are inextricably linked. We take the view that that needs to be an important focus of Government policy, which is why we have been preparing the social care Green Paper. Given the importance of the issue, we will be publishing that shortly to ensure that we have a full and appropriate national debate.
As far as the issue of an NHS constitution is concerned, we do not propose to have a social care constitution because we do not have a national social care service; we have a national health service, and that requires a constitution. However, that should in no way diminish the key importance that social care should, and does, have to the Government.