2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the provision of social care in North Wales? OAQ52081

Will the standing First Minister make a statement on the provision of social care in North Wales?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but social care plays a critical role in helping people live independently, working in partnership with health, the independent and third sectors, to manage demand and improve outcomes for people both in north Wales and nationally. This is why 'Prosperity for All' places social care as a sector of national importance.

Thank you for that answer. Hampshire County Council is aiming to leverage voice-activated home-speaker Amazon Echo skills to assist with adult social care. The technology can help people not only suffering with physical illness, but also help those who are suffering from loneliness and depression. According to the council, over 9,000 people are currently benefiting from assistive technology such as Amazon Echo, with 100 new referrals being made each week. Will the Welsh Government look at introducing their own trial to help tackle the social care demand in north Wales?

Yes. We already have several trials in place. It's a matter of great interest to us how we can use medical technologies of all sorts to assist with both social care and, actually, medical care. We have active pilots in place looking at exactly how we can exploit those technologies.

Cabinet Secretary, alarmingly, social service departments in local authorities in Wales overspent by £383 million against their budgets in 2016-17, with Cardiff Council alone exceeding their budget by a staggering £190 million. Now, many are predicted to massively overspend again over the next 12 months. Costs in social services are predicted to increase by another £344 million in the next three years, and there is evidence now that, by 2035, the number of people aged over 65 living in Wales will increase by 35 per cent and those aged over 85 by 113 per cent. This is a ticking time bomb. Now, Cabinet Secretary, what frameworks do you believe the First Minister and, indeed, your Welsh Government are putting in place now to ensure that our social care providers, and their budgets, are effectively resourced and that they are indeed futureproof for the next 20 years?

I always find it very difficult when the Conservative Party go on about spending, in view of the money—[Interruption.]

You have the money. You have the budget. You have the budget.

It's very handy to be able to have a divided brain on this subject, but I am happy to be able to tell the Member that, here in Wales, public spending on personal social services for families and children has gone up by 22 per cent between 2010-11 and 2016-17, which is a considerable difference to the spending rise in England, which is only 5 per cent.

Well, I agree that the funding coming from London is insufficient—we clearly would agree with that. But the question is, really, what is this Government doing in preparing for the reality of this £344 million injection that will be required by 2020? Just pointing fingers and blaming others isn't really answering the question. Now, only last month as well, of course, we heard that one of the UK's largest care providers, Allied Healthcare, was in financial difficulties. So, as well as telling us what more the Government will do to try and address the significant shortfall in funding, can you tell us how you will ensure that the most vulnerable in our society won't actually suffer as a consequence of Allied Healthcare's ongoing problems? 

Yes, in terms of Allied Healthcare, we are aware of the contractor's requests to go into some kind of administration, and we are working very hard to ensure that we have a good plan in place. I know the Minister has been working very hard to ensure that we have continuity of care practices in place for anybody who could be affected by that, though I hasten to say, so as not to set any hares running, that we are not in a position at the moment of any care ceasing in any of the places where Allied Healthcare care is provided. 

In terms of the overall issue, obviously an ageing population is a problem right across western Europe, but here we have made absolutely certain that we work alongside health to pool resources with social services, and, of course, we've stopped many of the cuts to social services that have occurred in the UK. But it is extraordinary to be able to split the austerity agenda and the results of austerity, which are insufficient money for public services, from the effects of that, which I know that you're not doing.