If she will make a statement on pay rates for women employed in social care.

The median female wage for health and social work is £8.72 per hour, which is above the £7.95 hourly wage for all women in employment. Registration of social care workers is being led by the Department of Health and it is hoped that that will help to raise the status of this important sector of the work force.

The Minister will know that local social services departments have great difficulty in meeting the demand for social care workers, especially when a 24-hour care package can require six or more people to care for one client. The employees are almost exclusively women with complex domestic commitments, so the jobs involve flexible hours and are often local. The women are tied into the jobs and have no pay bargaining power because they are locked into the terms and conditions that go with the jobs. How can we raise the status of those women and set them on a career path, so that when their children are older they can move to other jobs where their skills are transferable?

The hon. Lady is right about the vital contribution made by care workers in many communities throughout the country. She asks what we can do. First, we need to improve the training of those in social care. Secondly, we need to ensure that local authorities have the resources both to recruit and retain the workers on the pay that they deserve for their efforts. That is why the £150 million grant that authorities will receive in 2005–06 for recruitment, retention and training is so crucial, and that is why I am sure the hon. Lady will share my disappointment that it will presumably be subject to one of the cuts proposed by her party's Front Benchers.

I am worried by the Minister's figures. She said that the median female hourly wage was £8.72, but earlier this year the Equal Opportunities Commission said that 5 per cent. of the social care work force earned around £5 an hour. Home owners say that they cannot afford to pay more on the rates provided by social services departments. What does the Minister think the minimum wage for the job should be, and what action are the Government taking to ensure that social services pay enough for that minimum to be paid to these hard-working and much-needed employees?

As I said in my earlier answer, if we are to ensure that the people carrying out this vital work can be paid a decent rate, we must make certain that our social services departments are funded properly. In particular, we need to make certain that the resources are directed towards recruitment, retention and training. The £150 million grant—the level of grant has increased in the past few years—is crucial in that regard, but so is training itself and the status of these workers. In both those areas, the Department of Health has taken important action and the ongoing registration of social care workers will ensure that their status and pay reflect the contribution that they make to our communities.

The Minister has touched on the critical issue: the resources allocated to local government to enable it to pay for social care workers. I am frequently approached by representatives of residential care homes and nursing homes in my constituency, who say that they cannot find sufficient women to do the job because our area, fortunately, is economically vibrant and well-off and the demand for labour is tremendous. Will the Government not take account of this issue in allocating resources to local authorities and thereby enable them to provide the extra pay needed to employ these care workers, who play an essential role in looking after the many vulnerable people in our society?

I agree with everything that the hon. Gentleman said. Of course it is crucial that we allocate to local authorities the resources necessary not only to train and recruit these workers, who are doing such an important job, but to retain them on decent rates of pay. Members are right to say that the majority of such workers are women, but it should be part of our task to attract more men into this sector, to increase the total number of workers available. Yes, we do need to ensure that local authorities have more resources and, through the training and recruitment grant, we are ensuring that they will get an extra £150 million next year. I am sorry to return to an earlier point, but if the Conservatives' sums are to add up, that grant must form part of their proposed cuts—should they ever get into power.