Caroline Dinenage will be the minister of state overseeing adult social care, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed.
The decision to give the remit to Dinenage marks an elevation in the importance of adult social care within the government following it being handed to a junior minister for the first time in eight years in the 2016 reshuffle.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said the decision to give the responsibility for adult social care to a minister of state rather than a parliamentary under secretary of state reflected the expanded portfolio of the department following Prime Minister Theresa May’s latest reshuffle of her ministerial team earlier this month.
Green paper
As the adult social care minister Dinenage will take on responsibility for the forthcoming green paper on social care for older people which is expected to be published in the summer.
As part of her new remit, Dinenage last week met with members of the social care expert group advising the government on the green paper, including Eileen Burns of the British Geriatrics Society, Care UK chief executive Mike Parish and Nottinghamshire County Council’s director of adult social care David Pearson.
Dinenage is the MP for Gosport and was first elected to Parliament in 2010.
Equalities minister
She joined the government in May 2015 when May appointed her the minister for women and equalities at the Department of Education as well as the junior minister for family justice within the Ministry of Justice.
In June 2017 she was moved to the Department for Work and Pensions where she was the parliamentary under secretary of state for family support, housing and child maintenance.
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In June 2017 she was moved to the Department for Work and Pensions where she was the parliamentary under secretary of state for family support, housing and child maintenance.
Has a strong track record of failure what could possibly go wrong?
Upgrading this ministerial post will be as useful as adding the words “and social care” to the departmental title.
The appointment of Caroline Dinenage as Minister of State overseeing adult social care, the Department of Health and Social Care could be the political ‘kiss of death’ for Caroline, or the first glimmer of hope for the 1.4 million families with members who have learning disabilities. It could well be that she will be the first Minister since Enoch Powell in the 1960s who has shown genuine concern for this vulnerable and disadvantaged section of our society.
But first, there must be recognition that care in the community is in terminal decline. The hemorrhaging of vital services over the years, and the cover up of the betrayal of these people by academics and major charitable organizations responsible for their welfare, needs to be scrutinized and debated. Will this happen?
Extremely doubtful, for to hand back responsibility for social care for people with learning disabilities to the Department of Health in the light of its past dreadful performance (Institutions and the ‘chemical cosh’), suggests that absolutely nothing has been learnt from social history.
For further insights and information, please refer to my website http://learningdisabilitiesproblems.co.uk