What is the issue raised most often in Parliament? Keir Starmer suggested recently that these days it is special educational needs and disabilities. Maybe so. But no prizes for guessing it is not adult social care.
When in opposition, a Labour shadow minister for social care often lamented that it came nowhere near the top of issues brought up by constituents. Without a proverbial bulging postbag, MP colleagues felt under no pressure to make it a priority. Now Labour is in Government and waiting on reports of the Casey Commission later this year and in 2028, the lack of urgency feels even more debilitating.
It is not just Labour MPs, though. At the January session of monthly questions to health and social care ministers, not one of the 13 ‘substantive’ questions, put down in advance and written on the order paper, related to social care. Of 30 ‘topical’ questions, raised spontaneously during the allotted last 15 minutes of the session, just three pertained to social care. Let’s look at those individually.
One question, by Conservative MP, Sarah Bool, related to a threatened winding-up petition against a care home in her constituency. Care Minister, Stephen Kinnock, promised that officials would investigate urgently.
A second, by Liberal Democrat health and social care lead, Helen Morgan, focused on pressure on the NHS as a result of social care underfunding and asked for the ‘reinstating’ of cross-party talks on social care reform. In reply, Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, rehearsed Government funding pledges, referenced Casey and asserted that ‘cross-party working on social care has never been un-instated’.
While this may technically be true, it is fair to say that the only cross-party engagement on social care known to have taken place under Labour consisted of a single roundtable event convened by the Casey Commission last September.
I say ‘known to have taken place’ because the Casey process is proving less than transparent. And this was the gist of the third question raised about social care in the January session. Interestingly, it came from Rachel Maskell, a Labour MP, albeit an obstreperous one of late. Describing the commission as ‘pretty impenetrable’ to her and her constituents, she asked for a briefing on its progress, scope and scheduling. ‘The clock is ticking and the crisis is growing,’ she observed.
In response, Kinnock said he had already discussed Maskell’s points with her and hoped her frustrations had been resolved. He understood the commission had contacted her. Outlining other Government actions, including the proposed fair pay agreement for social care, he said ministers were ‘not sitting on our hands’.
How can we get more MPs to speak up like Maskell did? You may think questions in the Commons are somewhat performative, but there is surely a connection between MPs’ articulated concerns about the state of NHS dentistry and ministers’ noticeably heightened activity on the issue in recent months. In the January session, two of the 13 substantive questions and four of the topical ones were about dental services.
Social care lobby groups, notably Providers Unite, already put a lot of time and energy into reaching MPs. Maybe, as that former Labour shadow minister used to say, the problem is they still do not feel sufficient pressure from their constituents. Is it time to focus more effort on raising public awareness of what good social care looks like and how we might get it?
Have you raised any relevant concerns with your local MP? What was the response? Comment on this column or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
David Brindle is a social care commentator and former Public Services Editor of The Guardian. Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: @David-Brindle