Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 5:17 pm on 10 September 2024.
I thank the Minister for saying that, because I was going to ask her to touch on the national minimum standards. Can she give us a timeline? My worry is that the funding is ending in March 2025 and councils do not have the operating guidelines they need. There are also all the issues she raised in terms of making sure that councils understand how many units they have—let us not forget that Birmingham has the most units in the whole country, which is why I was encouraged that the previous Government included it in the pilot. I think the pilot has produced an evidence base showing why this issue is important: we will save money in the long run, whereas at the moment the taxpayer is almost paying twice. Unless the council intervenes and closes some of these properties, where support is not being provided, it will continue to be extracted from wider council services, which these providers are not paying into. Local government is no doubt listening to this debate, so I urge the Minister to give us a clear indication of what the timeline looks like.