8. Debate: The Holtham Report on Paying for Social Care

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:59 pm on 8 January 2019.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 4:59, 8 January 2019

I'm pleased to follow a thoughtful speech on this important subject from Jenny Rathbone. I agree with her about the wages that are paid to those who work in nursing homes. For the last 18 months of her life, my mother was in a nursing home—she'd been incapacitated by a stroke and couldn't do anything for herself at all. I was amazed at the commitment of the staff who looked after her and the others in her home on the poverty wages that they were being paid, and the long hours that they worked. I was absolutely astonished at what we got for what the service cost, and I do think that most people, if they could afford it, would be prepared to dip into their pockets to raise more money for those who work in social care of this kind, to put them on more than the technical living wage. That's one of the many important topics that we're going to have to grapple with in the years to come.