The Care Bill received its third reading in the Commons on Tuesday (11th March) at which amendments submitted by the House of Lords were considered. At this rate the Bill is on track to receive the Royal Assent later this year.
A full transcript of the debate is downloadable as a PDF via a link on the Care Bill page of the official Parliament website.
Press coverage was limited and focused on the new powers to be assigned to the Secretary of State for Health to close or take special measures against NHS hospitals (in the wake if the Mid-Staffs and other scandals).
We have however found an interesting article on the ‘Inside Housing’ website on the rejection of the amendment which ‘sought to include a reporting mechanism which would monitor funding and success.
This amendment, known as ‘New Clause 9’, had been tabled by Paul Burstow, former care minister, as a way of creating a reporting mechanism to ensure adequate funding in future. Richard Hawkes, chair of the Care and Support Alliance (CSA), described social care in December last year as ‘chronically underfunded’.
Burstow’s amendment was in part based on research commissioned by the CSA, which found that 483,000 older and disabled people, who would have received care in 2008, are already, due to local government cuts, outside of the system. Theis situation may deteriorate further, since the bill proposes the introduction of a new ‘national eligibility threshold’, effectively setting the eligibility for help in future at a ‘substantial’ level of need rather than at the ‘moderate’ level.
A spokesperson from Home Group, a social landlord concerned about a growing ‘funding gap’ and a supporter of this amendment, said: “We are adamant we are not giving up and will continue to lobby for the amendment.’