You can't fix the NHS without fixing social care, Streeting warned
Social care was described as a 'very significant question' hanging over the blueprint by the shadow health secretary.
Speaking in Commons on Thursday, Edward Argar warned Wes Streeting he risks failing to 'seize the genuine opportunity' presented by the plan if social care is not also reformed.
There were also calls to bring forward the end date of the Casey Commission, which aims to set out a plan to implement a national care service, in order to go 'further and faster' on social care.
Mr Argar said: 'Unless we move faster to adjust the challenges of social care and put it on a sustainable footing, these reforms risk failing to seize the genuine opportunity presented.'
Mr Streeting said: 'We're not waiting for Casey. The Spending Review gave an additional £4 billion to social care, and we're delivering the biggest expansion of carers allowance since the 1970s, significant increase in the disabled facilities grant.
'And the deputy prime minister and I will shortly be setting out how we will deliver the first ever fair pay agreements for the care workforce, building a real social care progression.'
The Casey Commission launched earlier this year, with the first phase expected to report in 2026, although recommendations from the initial probe will be implemented in phases over the course of 10 years.
Social care leaders have raised concerns over the potential timeline of 2036 for some reforms to be introduced.
The second phase of the commission, setting out longer-term reforms, is due to report by 2028.
Mr Streeting said social care 'has to be part' of neighbourhood health, adding: 'In the context of this plan, social care features because it has a role to play on admission avoidance and speeding up delayed discharges.'
Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, said a plan for the future of the NHS is 'welcome' but sought reassurance on social care.
'In 143 pages of the 10-year plan, there is only a passing reference to social care,' she said.
'Everyone knows that you can't fix the NHS without fixing social care.
'With so many people unable to return home from hospital to get the care they need, solving the crisis in social care is a huge part of moving care out of hospital and into the community.'
Mr Streeting said: 'I hope the house is reassured by the action we've already taken on social care, that's greater funding, the expansion of carers allowance, increasing the disabled facilities grant, the Fair Pay agreements, and the role and the partnership that we will see with social care to deliver better neighbourhood health services.
'And I should also say, especially in the context of what we've been describing about the importance of data and digital connections and better systems, in some parts of the country the social care system is actually ahead of the NHS, making better use of data, joining up systems in a more effective and efficient way.
'And there's lots that the NHS can learn from social care as well as the other way around.'
The chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green, also warned that the NHS 'cannot deliver this vision alone'.
'If adult social care is not put at the centre of delivery – not just as a partner, but as a leader – this plan will falter,' he added.
'The plan speaks to a future we've already been building. But vision alone isn't enough. Providers need clarity, investment, and status.
'Without a clear role for adult social care, this plan will leave a gap between policy and reality.'
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The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Seven of Labour's newest MPs look back on a ‘relentless' first year
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The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
After Two Tier Keir, we now have Two Tear Rachel… Reeves is finished but how long before her boss exits too?
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VYLAN COUNT COST OF HATE WORDS have consequences, as the Left-wing cancel culture mob have cried for years as they happily ended the careers of anyone who dared to question them. Well, indeed they do for Bob Vylan, the punk-rap duo from the mean streets of Ipswich, who led chants of 'Death, death to the IDF' and ranted about 'f***ing Zionists' during their Glastonbury performance as it was live-streamed on the BBC iPlayer. Not only do they now face a criminal investigation over their antisemitic chants, they've been dropped by their management, seen visas for a US tour revoked, and UK gigs have been cancelled. Oops. There have been consequences too for the BBC, where institutional antisemitism is now so part and parcel of the corporation's culture that, no one – not even the Director General Tim Davie – could spot the obvious anti-Jew hatred in those chants and shut down the live feed from public view. 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Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Reeves has made herself unsackable by crying at PMQs, claim Labour critics
Rachel Reeves has made herself unsackable by crying at Prime Minister's Questions, Labour critics have claimed. The Chancellor's display of emotion in the Commons on Wednesday was followed by Sir Keir Starmer giving her his unequivocal backing. The Prime Minister committed to keeping Ms Reeves in the Cabinet for the rest of his first term as colleagues publicly rallied around the Chancellor, who said she was dealing with an unexplained 'personal issue' when she burst into tears. However, a government source complained that Sir Keir 'seems to have tied himself to her' after her tears, which triggered a £3bn market sell-off and crash in the value of sterling. 'I thought at the beginning of Wednesday she would go, then thought it was confirmed when I saw her crying at PMQs, but then she didn't,' said the source. Another source said Ms Reeves had enjoyed an 'outpouring of sympathy' over an incident that was still 'inescapably linked to the political facts' of the welfare rebellion. A third added that being pictured distraught on television had 'shored up her position'. One insider said that, since Monday, the mood in Whitehall has transitioned from 'head in hands' over the welfare rebellion to the 'surreal horror' of watching Ms Reeves cry in the Commons. 'The dark clouds were descending,' said another source. 'Not in a terminal sense, but that everything was going wrong at once.' Some Labour MPs have privately suggested that the Chancellor should be sacked for her opposition to reducing the benefit cuts. Ms Reeves and Sir Keir put on a united front on Thursday, hugging in front of the cameras as they launched the Government's health strategy. The Chancellor said: 'People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday. Today's a new day and I'm just cracking on with the job.' She later added that 'when I'm having a tough day it's on the telly, and most people don't have to deal with that'. Sir Keir said politicians are 'humans in the end' as he praised Ms Reeves, adding that she would serve in her role 'for many years to come'. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said: 'She is a tough character. She is resilient, and she will bounce back' The Telegraph understands that the Chancellor also spoke to Angela Rayner, with whom she has previously had a difficult relationship, about the emotional episode on either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Rumours that her tears came after a row with either Sir Keir or Ms Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, were denied on Wednesday. While Ms Reeves is now considered safe, there is still talk of a reshuffle of other Cabinet ministers, their aides or more junior colleagues. Some advisers think Sir Keir will launch a 'reset' just before the parliamentary summer break, which begins on July 22, to allow new ministers to familiarise themselves with their brief before the Labour Party conference at the end of September. Others think the Prime Minister is more likely to wait until early in the new year, noting that he 'seldom rushes things' and has a tendency to give members of his team plenty of time to improve before sacking them. The PMQs session followed a week of tense negotiation between the Government and Labour rebels, who forced almost £5 billion in concessions on Sir Keir's benefits reforms. Ms Reeves, who opposed a Government U-turn, will now be forced to find that money in her autumn Budget, on top of existing commitments and a black hole of around £20bn. She has promised to do that without breaching Labour's fiscal rules or raising any of the 'big three' taxes – VAT, National Insurance and income tax. Treasury sources insist that the fiscal situation could improve later this year if the cost of servicing government debt falls or Britain experiences significant economic growth. But there is a consensus in other departments that Ms Reeves is now boxed in by her previous commitments. 'I can't see how she can pull it off after all the promises she has made,' said one source. Another added: 'She's in an impossible position, but that wasn't a secret. Now it's even more impossible.' A new poll by YouGov, published on Thursday, showed almost three-quarters of voters now expect Labour to break its manifesto pledge to not raise the three largest taxes. 'My guess is that we will keep to those promises, but there are decisions to be taken,' a source said. 'We didn't want to come in and raise taxes last year, but circumstances meant we had to do something.' There is disagreement over how politically damaging it would be for Labour to break its manifesto pledges on tax, after a year of turmoil with the election of Donald Trump and war in the Middle East. It may not be mathematically possible to raise as much as Ms Reeves requires in the autumn without touching those taxes. Freezing income tax thresholds, which would not be a manifesto breach, would raise around £10 billion, while some form of wealth tax or higher rate of capital gains tax could make up some of the rest of the shortfall. But higher taxes of any kind are unlikely to be popular, regardless of whether they come as a surprise to the public. 'Is the Treasury orthodoxy running Britain without any political lens?' asked a source. 'They are just looking at a column on a spreadsheet that says they need £5bn and they go to another column in the Budget and get it from there, without thinking about the politics.'
