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Mr. Dobson: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his general welcome for what we are doing. I am in favour of breaking down Berlin walls, but the idea that there can be one all-conquering inspectorate to consider everything from the standard of liver transplants to the delivery of meals on wheels is a bit preposterous. I am a great believer in horses for courses, even for inspectorates.
As for allocation of funds, there will be a 3 per cent. increase in real terms next year, and I expect increases on roughly the same lines in future years. The extra money for care in the community has been provided by way of a special transitional grant, and it has been in transition for a long time. The additional number of people in community care who need to be cared for is rapidly falling. The grant will be included in our proposed partnership and other new specific grants. Adequate funds will be available. Let me make it clear that there is no point in providing additional funds unless they will be properly and efficiently spent, and unless there is an inspectorate to make sure that that is happening.
I want allocations to be related to need and I do not envisage that much of the money should be subject to a bidding system. There will, of course, be terrible arguments about the extent of need in different places. No doubt, Sutton and Cheam will prove to be a very needful place in one of our future debates.
Mr. Hilton Dawson (Lancaster and Wyre):
Does my right hon. Friend accept that no actions are more important to improving children's services than those of putting children's rights at the heart of the agenda and of installing the proposed commissioners? May I tell him that he is an absolute hero for doing that, as are his colleagues, the Minister of State, Home Office and the Under-Secretary of State for Health? Will my right hon. Friend assure me that the children's rights commissioners will use the United Nations convention on the rights of the child as their template for practice and action?
Can he tell me what attention his Department paid in preparing the White Paper to the promulgation of the three-year qualification for social work? Does he agree that we must aim to ensure that all staff working in social work and social care are appropriately qualified? Will he assure me that the White Paper, or some future document, will include enabling procedures for staff who want to blow the whistle on low standards in their employing organisations that go against the grain of their training and of the Government's worthy intentions?
Mr. Dobson:
Again, I thank my hon. Friend for his welcome for our proposals and I know that it springs from
I am concerned about qualifications for staff, especially social workers. Much social services provision is provided by people who are not social workers, and I want to ensure that they all have appropriate high-quality training, because that will help them to deliver appropriate high-quality services. On the subject of whistleblowing, there is now nothing to stop people blowing the whistle as long as they tell the truth.
Mrs. Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton):
Will the Secretary of State expand on his statement with regard to improving the quality of care in people's homes, especially adults who live at home with their parents? I ask the question because, last week, I was with a young man in his 30s who lives with mum and dad. When dad went into hospital, the young man sought the help of social services for someone to come and help to move him, to use the toilet and to get in and out of bed. Social services insisted that a hoist be installed. His preference was for two or three people to come in and help to lift him, and he finally got that by identifying a company that could assist himself. When standards of care in the home are improved, will the individual have a say and be able to express preferences within provision packages?
Mr. Dobson:
We intend to do exactly as the hon. Lady suggests. My statement and the documents emphasise our desire to ensure that all services are provided so that those receiving them do so with the maximum dignity and independence. If we are to achieve that, the people involved will have to have a substantial influence on the services provided and that is our intention. That could be an issue for the inspectorate, but the aim of our policy is to ensure that the local authority, or whoever is responsible, treats people with dignity and in a way that promotes their independence. That should be a natural part of the process so that we do not have to rely on the inspectorate to ensure that it is happening.
Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax):
I also warmly welcome the proposals. My right hon. Friend will be aware of a continuing inquiry into a children's home in Halifax, in which two of the perpetrators of abuse have been arrested. The independent inspection teams could have made a huge difference to hundreds of children's lives had they been in place during the past 20 or 30 years. Will the children's rights officers actively encourage people to come forward and speak out, anonymously if necessary? If that had happened in Halifax, much unnecessary suffering could have been avoided.
Mr. Dobson:
I thank my hon. Friend for her welcome for our proposals. If the children's rights officers are doing their jobs, they will accept any sound information
Sir Teddy Taylor (Rochford and Southend, East):
Is the Secretary of State aware that Southend-on-Sea council, which has a Liberal Democrat and Labour majority of one, has just decided to close three of our six old folks' homes, because we cannot afford them? We have an appalling problem with bed blocking at our local hospital, because the council cannot take the old people in, and we also have a deficit of £2.5 million in our social services budget. As the Secretary of State said, the people want to know the truth. How will the extra £3 billion be given to local authorities? Will it be included in the local authority support grant that will be announced later this week? Will it be in the form of a special grant, or is it one of those mystical things that might appear in three years' time? Does the Secretary of State appreciate that we have a genuine crisis which is not caused by inefficiency or politics and we need to know how the extra money will get to Southend?
Mr. Dobson:
The money will begin to be provided next year--
Mr. Dobson:
Yes, next year. We are rather a long way through the current financial year. Money will be provided to Southend and everywhere else next year in grants for specific purposes. Although many of the additional funds that I have announced today will be provided in specific grants, others will be provided through the standard spending assessment and the grant formula that will be announced through the revenue support grant system. I make no bones about the fact that if we are to raise standards in the way that we want to, much of the funding must be provided through specific grants, and that is that.
Mr. Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford):
I welcome my right hon. Friend's announcements. The proposals for children's rights officers and care commissioners will be given three cheers in the welfare and social work professions.
My right hon. Friend mentioned small children's homes. For far too long, residential social workers have not received the training that they need. As long ago as 1948, the Curtis report said that training was required for people who undertake some of the toughest work, caring for the most vulnerable and violent children. Apart from the specific funds that my right hon. Friend has referred to, what funds will be allocated to improving training for residential social workers?
Mr. Dobson:
As I said, there will be an increase of £20 million for training social services staff in addition to the £120 million that is already being spent. Some of that funding is not spent particularly well and it will be helpful if we can redirect funds so that they are better used.
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