In previous debates, we've all recognised the amazing work done by social care staff up and down the country, delivering vital care in our communities. We've discussed the need to drive up the quality of care and the vital role it plays in helping people to live quality lives, independently, in settings that meet their needs and expectations.

Social care free at the point of need is an aspiration that many of us share. However, we currently estimate that providing just free personal care and accommodation in a care home is likely to cost over £700 million a year in addition. Our view is this would be well beyond our ability to provide, and it would not, on those figures, address staff terms and conditions. Therefore, our focus has been on developing funded options that are sustainable and deliver better quality care.  

With this in mind, the inter-ministerial group has considered a number of areas where investment could have the greatest impact, whilst looking to build on existing initiatives and policies. This includes: exploring new models of care; possibly offsetting elements of social care charges; and a consideration of how to deliver service quality improvements from investment in the social care workforce. 

There is widespread recognition of the importance that our workforce plays in the quality and effectiveness of social care. However, the pay and terms of employment don't reflect this. The result is in an estimated annual 30 per cent turnover in the domiciliary care workforce. In my view, it is important that we identify as a priority what we can do to tackle retention and improve continuity and the quality of care. This should also support our approach on the foundation economy and fair work. 

We are already driving a number of new models of integrated health and social care through the transformation fund that I announced as part of 'A Healthier Wales', our long-term plan for health and social care. We'll be drawing on the learning from transformation fund projects.

The group is keen to deepen the benefits of our integrated care fund, where the capital programme has strengthened the link between good-quality housing and good health and well-being outcomes. We're exploring the development of new models of housing-related care with the aim of keeping more people independent and out of residential care and acute care for as long as possible.

As I said, we already provide in Wales a generous charging framework, but we recognise the need to keep on improving what we offer. The inter-ministerial group is exploring options around: the introduction of funded non-residential care; a contribution towards the cost of residential care for those who pay the most; and the provision of funded personal care for anyone eligible.

Taking forward any or all of the options that I've just summarised will require investment over and above the resources required to maintain current service levels. We have previously debated the possibility of raising taxes in Wales to generate resources for social care. We need to be confident of delivering a sustainable funding solution that works for Wales.

So, the group has not limited its thinking. We've considered the joint work on the funding of social care by the select committee on health and social care and the select committee on communities and local government in the last UK Parliament. We've also reviewed the available evidence of international models. These illustrate the challenges in establishing a new funding model for social care. Where countries like Germany and Japan have well-established models of funding social care, or models of long-term care insurance, these were based on a clear acceptance of individual contributions for social care insurance.  

We have a deep-rooted respect and support for our national health service and remain protective of access to free healthcare at the point of need. The established international models reviewed require changes to remain viable and have restricted benefits for social care or raised financial contributions. This would imply that, if we were to raise taxes to fund an improvement in social care, we would need to align closely with the specific outcomes we want to achieve to deliver a sufficiently flexible and sustainable solution. 

There are real choices here for the nation. Building a consensus around the need for change and the nature of that will be fundamental to delivering reform for the future. I'm keen to continue this conversation today and beyond with Members, with committees and wider stakeholders to help inform our direction of travel and to build a picture of our collective vision for the social services that we want for the future of Wales.