§ 10. Dr. Lynne Jones (Birmingham, Selly Oak)If he will make a statement on his proposals for improving the system for financing long-term care for elderly people. [98935]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton)We have already acted on several recommendations of the royal commission on long-term care. We are improving services to carers by allocating £140 million over three years to help to fund respite care, and we are extending direct payments to people aged 65 and over. We also have specific proposals to improve the quality of residential and nursing care services through the introduction of a new independent regulatory system with national minimum standards. We are currently carefully reviewing the rest of the royal commission's recommendations, including those contained in the minority report, and we shall announce our response as soon as that consideration is complete.
§ Dr. JonesAccording to our manifesto, the royal commission was set up
to work out a fair system for funding long-term care for the elderly.Although I welcome the measures the Government have taken so far, I am disappointed that no Minister has yet been able to announce to the House that the Government intend to accept the independent advice for which they asked in respect of funding proposals. Given that the majority report both commands the support of the overwhelming majority of informed opinion and is massively popular with the public, the Government should not require too much courage to take the necessary steps to implement its sensible and cost-effective recommendations in full.
§ Mr. HuttonI am sorry that my hon. Friend is disappointed. As I said, we are actively considering all the recommendations, including those in the minority report, which took a slightly different perspective. My hon. Friend refers to cost, but it is worth bearing it in mind that, if implemented in their entirety, the royal commission's recommendations would add £6 billion a year to public expenditure. It is thus perfectly reasonable to spend some time now ensuring that we get the decisions right.
As I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, the system is one that was created by the Tories: they had 19 years in government to perfect the system, but what a shambles they made of it. We think that it is reasonable to make sure that we get the decisions right now so that we create a sustainable system for funding long-term care that is fair to the individual and the taxpayer and stands the test of time.
§ Mr. Stephen Dorrell (Charnwood)Can the Minister confirm that when the Labour Government took office, they inherited draft legislation the effect of which would have been to reduce the burden of paying for long-term care on those families that had taken steps in advance to insure against that care being needed? Will he tell us whether, in their two and a half years in office, the Government have had any better ideas—or, come to that, any ideas at all—on how to deal with the issue?
§ Mr. HuttonThat from the man who created the current shambles! The right hon. Gentleman is not in a good position to dispense that sort of advice, given that his fingerprints are all over the existing system. He is right to say that we inherited legislation from the previous Government, but he might like to refresh his memory of paragraph 5.13 of chapter 5 of the royal commission's report.
§ Mr. DorrellI know it well.
§ Mr. HuttonI am sure the right hon. Gentleman does, but other hon. Members might not be so familiar with that paragraph, so I shall inform the House of what it says. Describing the scheme that the right hon. Gentleman has just recommended to the House, the royal commission said:
The scheme as presented by the previous Government was rather complex, and it was difficult to see where the benefits lay, and to whom.I think that that is polite royal commission-speak for "What a load of old cobblers those proposals amounted to."