Lord Turnberg (Lab)

My Lords, it is pleasing to welcome the proposals from the Government. It is also very pleasing to hear of the immediate things that can be done for social care, because we should not be waiting for the final report. There are some more suggestions that we could make that do not require any money—that should be music to the Minister’s ear. We do not need more money to reduce the bureaucracy that people in the community are required to go through to gain admission to a care home. It is horrendous. They have a means test and a needs test serially, which can be very bureaucratic and time-consuming, and there are waiting lists. We must reduce that bureaucracy. The second thing, which the Minister has already referred to, is the value that we place on care home workers. It is good to hear that they will get a rise in their money and that ideas will be put about on their careers, but, unless they have a recognised national qualification and registration of that qualification, career prospects will be limited. We must do more for them to allow them to see themselves in a career that could go on to nursing in the NHS. We must do more in that field if we are to retain these enormously valuable people.