I want to put on record the thanks that we all owe to the social care sector, who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic. They've given their all in terms of commitment and, very often, sacrifice to see people through a time in their life where they need that care and support, and I'm sure there's nobody here that would disagree with that statement.

Minister, the 'Rebalancing care and support' White Paper has predicted that the demands on the services delivered by the social care sector are going to rise significantly by 2040, and we all know the reasons, and the reasons are that we're living longer, and, as we live longer, when we need care, those needs are, indeed, more complex. And it also acknowledged that the social care workforce is facing lots of challenges. That's what the paper's all about. And one of the areas I want to focus on is staff, and the recruitment of staff, because you clearly won't have a service if you don't have any staff to deliver it. And there's one figure that jumps out, and that is not a surprising figure: that the majority of staff who work there are women over 40 years of age. It is clear that, when we're talking about care, we're talking about people. We're talking about people accessing care from people they very often don't know, inviting them into their homes. And that diversity is critical in terms of taking that forward. So, whatever happens in taking this forward, we have to improve both the diversity of the workforce and the terms and conditions that the workforce work under. And one of the reasons for the shortages is, indeed, the poor terms and conditions, and that again is mentioned in this report.

I'm going to ask people here today to reflect on something that is within that report, and that is about the anxiety that individuals receiving care would feel if they don't know who is going to turn up for their care, or when they're going to turn up, because the flux in the market is such that they can't be reassured. And yet we're asking those individuals to trust other people with the most intimate care at a time in their life when they feel the most vulnerable. So, I think if there's one thing that I would like to see coming out of this, it's looking at that workforce being delivered in a way that people feel some sort of power for themselves so that they're not always just done to.