Government promises green paper on adult social care

The government will produce a green paper on adult social care to ensure state spending is used effectively and services promote choice, it announced today.

However, adult social care and other local government services lost out to the NHS in terms of public spending levels for 2008-11, which were unveiled today by chancellor Alistair Darling.

In the forthcoming comprehensive spending review, local government spending will grow by 1% a year in real terms from 2008-11, compared to 4% per year for the NHS and 2.8% for education.

The Local Government Association had claimed that councils in England would only have a chance of maintaining adult care services at current levels with 2% real terms growth per year, given demographic pressures.

However, the announcement of a green paper, which had been expected, is the government’s acknowledgement that it will address the impact of growing numbers of older and disabled people on the care system.

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