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Care Homes

I do not have time to give way; I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. It will take time to improve local supply, so we are planning to produce a work force strategy for adult social care this spring. Part of the remit of that strategy will be to set out what the sector needs to do to attract, develop and retain a suitably shaped, skilled and qualified work force in order to fulfil our policy objectives on delivering personalised care. Much of that will mean recruiting from relatively untapped employment markets across existing communities. Delivery depends on activity at the local employer level, which will take time to work through the sector, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that we are on the case. As he will know, most care homes are private businesses, and they agree their terms and conditions of service with their staff, subject to national employment legislation. Of course, it was the current Government who introduced some of those national minimum standards, including the minimum wage and working time directives. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam raised the question of the personal expenses allowance, which was a difficult decision. The question was where we should put our resources. The estimated cost of raising the allowance to £40 a week is £250 million a year. We chose to put £520 million a year into local authorities over the next three years. If we had reduced that by £250 million, it would have meant less money for local authorities to improve the quality of care in their areas, and they would not have had the resources to undertake the essential transformation of social care. The allowance is increased in line with average earnings, but that issue will form part of the debate on the social care Green Paper, because it is a fundamental part of the system that is in place to provide financial care and support for people in our communities. The dementia strategy was mentioned. I do not have time to—