Bishop Steven joined the debate on social care in the House of Lords this week. He called on the Government to ‘reimagine care’, describing it as an urgent need. The full text of his speech was as follows:
My Lords I welcome this debate. I particularly appreciated Baroness Tyler’s appeal for a reframing of a broader conversation and like others across this House, I want to pay tribute to the many unpaid carers and those who work in social care, investing their lives in the wellbeing of others. As has been said, we acknowledge together in this debate that our social care system is in urgent need of reform, that this is a key moment.
So I share the hope that the government will take the first steps in that reform in the very, very near future. Social care impacts all of us in terms of our responsibilities and our needs. Social care brings the most vulnerable in our society from the margins to the centre of our attention and our love. My Lords last year the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care published its excellent report with the title, Care and Support Reimagined.
The Commission was chaired by Dr Anna Dixon MBE and the Rt Revd James Newcome, then Lord Bishop of Carlisle. The report commends the development of a National Care Covenant. The biblical notion of covenant is based not around commercial contract but around a wider societal promise and mutual expectation and is focussed on relationships, mutuality and partnership. It demands a shared vision across society and common values and I would particularly draw the attention of the House to the seven values and principles from the Commission’s work which I believe offer an excellent underpinning for the government’s work.
Social care should be universal; social care should be fair; social care should be characterised by loving kindness which as we all know is transformative; social care should foster trust; social care should be inclusive; social care should promote mutuality; social care is an expression of empathy, focussed on what each individual wants or needs, rather than paternalistic and presumptive.
A number of Lords have and will highlight the need for workforce planning. Clearly that is needed as part of a holistic, integrated, systemic approach. We are entering a period in wider society when new technologies are likely to lead to a rapid decline in the number of roles in many industries: in warehousing and call centres as many roles are automated.
The renewal of social care gives us the opportunity to think about rethinking and expanding the workforce in an area of our lives which needs to remain distinctly personal and deeply humane. In social care we must think not only how to be efficient but how to create communities of kindness.
As the motion before us implies there is an urgent need to offer a matrix of support for voluntary carers not least the funding of respite to enable rest and Sabbath in their demanding roles. My Lords so much that is good is offered by home carers and volunteers and partnerships with faith communities and by local authorities and by businesses. The government now has a significant opportunity to Reimagine Care and Support and the need to begin this task is very, very urgent.
