Westminster Eye: An insight into the week of politics 12 - 20 December

At the beginning of the week The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu called for urgent and lasting reform of the way care is funded for older people in England, stating that the system is no longer fit for purpose. Writing an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Archbishop asked the Government to consider a new social covenant to protect the most vulnerable in society.

Tuesday 13 December
Richard Burden MP received an answer to his question to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on what steps his Department is taking to ensure elderly and vulnerable people do not suffer ill health or die as a result of severe weather in the winter of 2011-12. In replying Gregory Barker MP said that the coalition Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and supporting vulnerable consumers to heat their homes at an affordable cost.

This year is the first year of the mandatory Warm Home Discount scheme, which will provide over 600,000 of the poorest pensioners with a Core Group discount of £120 off their electricity bills. Other low income vulnerable households may also be assisted through the scheme. Overall the Government expected 2 million low income vulnerable households a year to be assisted through the scheme.

Funding of the Warm Front scheme was to be continued, providing low income vulnerable households, living in energy inefficient properties, with energy efficient heating and insulation measures. In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions provide pensioner households with winter fuel payments to help with additional heating costs during the winter. Cold weather payments are also made to low income and vulnerable households where there is an average temperature of 0°C or below for seven consecutive days. These payments have been increased to £25 per week and in winter 2010-11 over 17 million cold weather payments were paid in Great Britain worth an estimated £430 million.

He was working closely with the Department of Health on their cold weather plan, which aims to avoid the adverse health effects of winter by raising public awareness and triggering actions by those in contact with people most at risk. The plan sets out what needs to happen before and during periods of severe winter weather in England, and builds on established national and local campaigns for winter health with a more co-ordinated approach. The plan will work through a system of cold weather alerts in operation from 1 November to 31 March.

Chris Skidmore MP asked the Health Minister what proportion of users of adult social care services are not self-funding in each local authority area. The reply given by Social Care Minister, Paul Burstow on 15 December was that the information requested is not collected centrally.

During Commons Oral Questions to the Cabinet Office Julie Hilling MP asked what steps they are taking to support the voluntary sector. Cabinet Office Minister Nick Hurd MP said the Government was supporting the sector by cutting red tape, investing in transition funds for infrastructure and front-line organisations, creating significant new opportunities for the sector to deliver public services, and supporting new initiatives to encourage giving and social investment. He continued that the Government had put in place a £107 million transition fund to help the most vulnerable organizations.

Richard Burden MP asked Health Ministers what recent meetings the Department have had with representatives of the Care and Support Alliance and whether he plans to bring forward proposals to reform the care system. Paul Burstow responded by saying that the Care and Support Alliance have been involved throughout the engagement exercise, having met with officials and engagement leads to discuss their priorities for the reform of adult social care. Numerous events and meetings had also taken place with the constituent groups of the Care and Support Alliance, and a number of their members were chosen specifically to participate in Caring for our future engagement exercise. He added that Ministers have attended a number of these events and have met with many representatives of the Care and Support Alliance since Caring for our future was launched on 15 September 2011.

The feedback received from the engagement will be considered alongside the recommendations from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support and the Law Commission. The Government is committed to publishing a White Paper, and a progress report on funding, in spring 2012, and to legislating at the earliest possible opportunity.

Thursday 15 December
Mark Menzies MP asked what assessment the Government has made of the likely effect of the proposed reforms of the NHS on dementia care for the elderly. Paul Burstow responded saying that improving the quality of care for people with dementia and their carers was a priority for the Government. Last year it launched a new outcomes focused implementation plan for the National Dementia Strategy. This makes a clear commitment to accelerate the pace of improvement through a greater focus on local delivery and local accountability and empowering citizens to hold local organisations to account.

Julian Sturdy MP asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any plans to provide further incentives for use of the Gift Aid scheme. Treasury Minister Chloe Smith said that the Budget 2011 announced a significant package of reforms to encourage charitable giving, including new measures on Gift Aid. These included raising the Gift Aid benefit limit from £500 to £2,500 and a Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme, so that charities can claim a Gift Aid style payment when collecting small donations and where circumstances for collecting the necessary donor details are difficult. The Government are also committed to reducing the administrative burdens on charities through the introduction of an online filing system for making Gift Aid claims and supporting the charity sector in developing a Gift Aid database. The Government keeps taxes and reliefs under review. Any changes are announced at Budget.

During Questions to the Leader of the House on Thursday, Tony Baldry MP asked for a debate early next year on social care and paying for the costs of care homes. He said that a White Paper had been promised for the Spring, but it appeared that this was going to be no more than a progress report and will not contain substantive policy decisions. He recognised that it is difficult to establish cross-party agreement on this issue, but a debate would indicate whether there was cross-party agreement on the funding of social care and the cost of care homes. As co-chair of the all-party group on carers, he wanted the matter resolved before he left Parliament. In replying Sir George Young said that one of the first actions the Government took was to establish the Dilnot report, which reported in July. There is a commitment to publish a White Paper in the Spring, which will outline the Government's response to the important issues. There have been a number of debates on this important subject, but he would welcome a further one. The Government had inherited a situation in which there were lots of White Papers but no action was taken during 13 years.

Andrew Gwynne MP asked the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the likely take-up of telehealth schemes and what discussions he has had with private companies on funding of telehealth schemes. Paul Burstow responded by saying that the Department's modelling suggests that at least 3 million people with long-term conditions could benefit from telehealth leading to a potential efficiency gain of around £1.2 billion over the next five years.The Department has been discussing with industry about new models of delivery but it will be for the NHS to commission services locally.

Monday 19 December
Anne McIntosh MP asked the Cabinet Office what plans it has to facilitate volunteering for older people. Nick Hurd replied that promoting social action among all age groups, including volunteering, is a key part of the Government's vision for the big society. The Giving White Paper, published in May 2011, outlined a number of measures that will support the creation of a culture of giving both time and money. These included the following measures which relate to volunteering and all of which are open to older people:

Over £40 million of funding over the next two years to support volunteering, giving and volunteering infrastructure by way of the Social Action Fund, Challenge Prizes and Local Infrastructure Fund. These funds have no upper age restrictions.

£1 million to support Youthnet which runs the volunteering website www.do-it.org.uk. Volunteering opportunities here do not have an upper age limit.

£400,000 support from Government and NESTA to trial 'Spice' in England which gives volunteers vouchers or discounts with local businesses when they do good things for the community. There is no upper age restriction on this trial.

Through the Social Action Fund, which launched in October 2010, The Government is seeking to fund programmes that encourage professionals who have retired, or are on the point of retirement, to use their experience and skills for community/public benefit.

Finally as part of the national work programme for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 the Office for Civil Society provided Age UK with a grant to promote the role of volunteering in enabling active ageing. This has been designed to lead into the European Year of Active Aging and Solidarity Between Generations in 2012.

Greg Knight MP asked what spending the Department of Health had recently spent on radio advertisements relating to dementia and for what reason it has commissioned such advertisements. The answer is expected on 11 January when the House returns.

Tuesday 20 December
Today was allocated as a Backbench Christmas Adjournment debate day. Over 30 debates were scheduled, including one tabled by Tracy Crouch MP on older people and the Campaign to End Loneliness. Speeches were kept to a maximum of six minutes so that all business could be covered during the session. During her speech, Tracy Crouch said that more than 1 million people aged over 65 say that they feel socially or emotionally lonely all or most of the time. It is heartbreaking that while many will be spending the festive season with family and friends, 500,000 older people will spend this Christmas Day alone. She added that many did not fully understand the severe social, health and financial consequences of loneliness. Researchers rate it as a higher health risk than lifelong smoking or obesity. Associated physical and mental health conditions include sleep deprivation, a weakened immune system, higher blood pressure, an increased risk of dementia and intense levels of depression. She praised the work of the Campaign to End Loneliness and of the work done in local communities. Special mention was given to the events that Medway council ran through its older people’s partnership and its work with WRVS. She finished by saying that loneliness is not just for Christmas, but this seems to be a perfectly good time to highlight loneliness amongst older people.

The Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury Angela Watkinson responded on behalf of Government. She welcomed the good work done by Independent Age, Age UK Oxfordshire, Counsel and Care, and WRVS on the Campaign to End Loneliness. She said that the Government recognised the terrible impact that isolation and loneliness can have on people’s health and well-being. Government knows that multi-professional collaboration from a health and social care perspective on the needs of older people - including recognising isolation and those at risk from it - will make a huge contribution to keeping older people well and independent in their own homes, and to helping to maintain a decent quality of life for them. During the recently concluded the caring for our future engagement exercise the issue of loneliness and isolation among older people was raised. She concluded by adding that the Government is doing everything it can, and will also support the efforts of others, to ensure that older people have access to all the help they need to reduce social isolation.

Parliament resumes on 10 January.