I think you ought to ask a Government Minister that. But it’s really a lack of resources. Merging primary and secondary care worked so incredibly well, didn’t it?

Social care can be needed for decades. We have seen the effect of cutting local government expenditure and thus expenditure on social care in England. We know what it leads to: beds being blocked by those medically able to be discharged, but where a care package is not available, so the person cannot be discharged; a greater need for hospital care because of the lack of support at home. We also know that hospitalisation can reduce people’s capacity to look after themselves. Too often, those who are capable of living alone end up, after a short or medium-length stay in hospital, needing residential care. We need to value the services provided by social care. We need to ensure that social care is adequately funded.

I’d like to talk about the important range of local authority services. I could just list the services, but I’ve got two and a half minutes left and I wouldn’t get past the letter C. So, to highlight just a few of the less-talked-about ones: the importance of keeping the street lights on; trading standards ensuring that the public are protected against rogue traders; archive services; public protection regarding road safety, including school crossing patrols; ensuring buildings are safe, healthy and sustainable, and access for all users, whether domestic, commercial or public services; registering births, marriages and deaths; licensing taxis; art galleries, museums and theatres—just a few of the things that local authorities are providing to their communities.

Apart from community care, these are just a few of the ways that councils help reduce demand for the health service. One of the biggest boosts to health has been the reduction in the number of people smoking, and the work done by Communities First in promoting smoking cessation needs acknowledging. Getting people into a more active lifestyle; reducing obesity by increasing physical activity while providing more affordable leisure facilities, such as affordable gyms and affordable sports pitches; ensuring food hygiene in food premises; promoting cycling; and community centres allowing people, especially the elderly, to mix together—they’ll all improve health. We all know how important loneliness is, and the effect loneliness has on a number of elderly people. Community centres give them an opportunity to meet and mix together. Am I the only one who believes that reducing the number of sports facilities such as leisure centres will impact on people’s health?

Finally, I believe in the importance of local government services. I believe we must thank the Welsh Labour Government for not going along with the huge cutbacks made to local government in England, not slashing local government as they have in England, and the effect it has had on a whole range of services. Local government is important to all of us. We need to fund local government adequately or we will all miss the very important services it provides, which we all use.