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Caring for the Elderly

Indeed. I do not think that the burden placed on local authorities is taken seriously enough in this place. We need mutual minimum entitlements for people throughout the country, to prevent a different quality of care from being provided in different areas. One would think that the Conservatives—especially as they called for the debate—would want to lead it by revealing their proposals for care in this country. I must say that I find their attitude rather barefaced. Although I do not agree with the Government on many aspects of this policy area, the Conservatives' criticism of the Government for not having a policy is amazing, given that they have no policy whatever themselves. The shadow Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley), said on the "Today" programme how late the Green Paper was, and of course that is true. He also said:""We will come forward with a clear proposal by the next election if the Government don't."" That, I think, exposes the reality of the Conservative position, which I am afraid is typical "substanceless" new Tory. It is very much like the Labour party's position in 1995-96. It is strong on warm words and spin, but very empty on policy. Of course, this is the party that abolished the link between pensions and earnings, and led us into the care system that we have now. The crisis with an ageing population was perfectly visible then, but the Conservatives did nothing to prepare for it. We have approximately nine months left before the general election, and we are being asked to start a discussion about care. We are being asked to wait possibly six years for fundamental change to the pension system, such as a restoration of the link with earnings. This is not a time for discussions, let alone the start of discussions; this is a time for firm policy commitment. The Secretary of State for Health tripped himself up yesterday. Having said that we want consensus—the title of the Green Paper is "Shaping the future of care together"—he said that at the next election all the parties would put their proposals to the electorate. Frankly, is that not what a Green Paper at this stage is all about, because it can deliver no change for people in our country before this Government leave office some time next spring? We need real decisions that will affect older people's lives to be made now. We need to bring forward the decision to restore the link between pensions and earnings. We need clear policies for how we will deal with the care crisis that is ruining older people's lives now. We have heard quite enough warm words, but older people know that this country currently does not adequately value them.