Written Statement: Social Care Recovery Framework

I am pleased to provide Members with an update about our plans for social care recovery.

Members will be very aware of the challenges the pandemic continues to bring to the social care sector and of the need to support it, as the Programme for Government sets out, to recover and to move forward. Today I am publishing a social care recovery framework, which sets out our immediate and short term priorities for recovery. The framework builds on 'Improving Health and Social Care (Covid 19 Looking Forward)', which was published in March, and looks towards the implementation of the important social care commitments published in the Programme for Government last month.

The recovery framework has been developed in collaboration with partners across the social care sector.

Through it, we will:

• Ensure the core of our recovery planning is focused, in the spirit of the Programme for Government, on rebuilding wellbeing, reducing inequalities, widening participation and creating an inclusive society;
• Support people with Long-Covid, including in terms of increased demand for social care provision;
• Continue to ensure the risk of Covid-19 entering care homes is minimised and visiting is maintained safely;
• Address the adverse impact Covid 19 has on unpaid carers;
• Work with the Social Care Fair Work Forum to improve terms and conditions for the social care workforce and ensure there is a continued focus on supporting wellbeing and mental health;
• Work with partners to shape a future funding approach to enable commissioners to respond to changing population needs to secure care and support for the future;
• Harness and build on the improved collaborative working across health and social care we have seen during the pandemic to drive improvement; and
• Work with partners to take forward our linked Programme for Government commitments to provide additional specialist support and fund regional residential services for children with complex needs; explore radical reform of current services for looked after children and care leavers; eliminate private profit from the care of looked after children; and strengthen public bodies in their role as ‘corporate parent’.

It is critically important that we use this recovery period to lay the right foundations for the strong, positive future for social care in Wales that the Programme for Government outlines.

This statement is being issued during recess in order to keep members informed. Should members wish me to make a further statement or to answer questions on this when the Senedd returns I would be happy to do so.