Diolch. I’m pleased to be able to respond to this debate, and I thank Eluned, Mike and Dai for their contributions. This Government has been strongly focused for a number of years now on building a care service fit for the pressures of the modern world. We have brought forward groundbreaking legislation to reform care, based on a person-centred approach. We have protected social services budgets despite the austerity of the UK Government, and we’ve led the sector towards new approaches of collaboration and integration. We have, since 2011 and the launch of ‘Sustainable Social Services for Wales: A Framework for Action’, delivered a coherent and strategic response to the issues of an ageing population, and enhanced public expectations and limited financial growth.

We know, of course, that the population in Wales is growing older. Life expectancy is increasing, and the proportion of older people aged 75 and older is projected to increase each year. Society is changing, and social services must change in response. There has been, and will continue to be, a shift in the public’s expectation of public services. Social services need to alter and respond in the light of a difficult financial outlook.

The Welsh Government has, since 2011, transformed the fundamental basis of the social services system to meet these challenges. ‘Sustainable Social Services for Wales’ has changed the foundations of social care, placing the citizen at the centre and recognising that effective services are those shaped by the people who receive them.

The focus on challenge now is on ensuring that the changes underpinned by the two major statutory levers for transformation, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 are fully embedded. Our new programme for government, ‘Taking Wales Forward’, explicitly recognises this imperative. That programme for government also recognises the very real challenges of the costs of care. The Government will more than double the capital limit for residential care in this administration, ensuring that people are able to keep more of their hard-earned resources should they need to go into residential care.

At the core of service delivery is partnership and co-operation. The challenge here is making health and social care work in a collaborative way to provide good-quality care and support for people with needs, recognising that local authorities and partners, including the third sector, housing and communities, need to work together in order that preventative services can be put in place to help people live independently.

Statutory regional partnerships boards have been set up to bring together health, social services and the third sector to assess, plan and provide jointly for the needs of their populations. This includes agreement on the capacity of services they need from care homes, and integrated commissioning arrangements. This Government has invested significantly to support innovative new models of care. The intermediate care fund, this year alone, has provided £60 million to regions, to promote prevention and integration approaches. I’ve personally seen the results of that investment across Wales in step-down facilities, in health and social care information services working together, in professionals from different sectors working together. This money is significant and it is making a difference.

Let me turn to the market in social care. Members will be aware of the provisions of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, which requires local authorities and the Welsh Government to look ahead and think about the future of the social care market. It also gives new powers to the regulators to monitor the health of the market, particularly those big players whose departure could cause significant problems for those receiving care. I’ve met with providers to discuss these matters and will continue to look at ways we can support a strong, vibrant and resilient sector going forward.

Those providers, together with other stakeholders, sit on the Government’s care home steering group. That body recently requested the national commissioning board to undertake a market analysis of the care home sector. This work is crucial, and I expect to see the results of the research shortly. It will give us the clearest picture we’ve ever had of the existing provision and capacity within the sector, and I am sure it will help the regional partnership boards meet the Government’s requirements that, from April 2018, they establish pooled funds in relation to care home accommodation for adults.

In terms of the workforce, we know that the care sector is facing significant pressure in relation to recruitment and retention. This Government invests over £8 million every year in training that workforce and is committed to taking action to improve the attractiveness of the sector to the potential workforce. The overriding view of respondents in the Government’s recent consultation on improving the quality of domiciliary care was that terms and conditions of employment for domiciliary care workers should be improved. The national living wage provides a welcome improvement to the terms and conditions of employment for social care workers. However, we do recognise that this poses challenges to the financial health of the sector. I reaffirm this Government’s commitment to work with the sector to explore and respond to the challenges of the national living wage.

We have undertaken significant research into the links between the terms and conditions of the workforce and the quality of care, and that link is now well established. I’ll be publishing a report on that consultation shortly, alongside a written statement setting out the direction of travel that this Government will take in this regard. I’ll be working with the sector in the period ahead to consider how to limit the use of zero-hours contracts, as promised in our manifesto.

This brings me to a final challenge that has only recently emerged, and that is the impact of the Brexit vote and the fact it will have far-reaching consequences for our society. But, actually, the social care risks may be more immediate. Our sector relies on a workforce drawn from across the European Union and I want those staff to feel secure in their roles and not to feel threatened by the outcome of the referendum. As a Government, we will continue to press the UK Government to recognise the valuable contribution made by those from outside the UK and to ensure that we are able to attract an able and passionate workforce for our social care system.

So, a lot has been delivered by the sector in response to the transformational change set out in recent legislation. The sector still faces challenges and we will continue to work with the sector to meet those challenges in the future. We can and we will grow a sustainable system of care and support in Wales, which has the well-being of, and good outcomes for, people at its heart. Diolch yn fawr.