Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:18 pm on 17 May 2022.
Thank you to the Minister for the statement. According to the Welsh Government guidance on the fund, the main purpose of the housing-with-care fund is to increase the stock of housing to meet the needs of people with care and support needs, to support independent living in the community for people with care and support needs, and to provide intermediate care settings in the community, so that people who need care, support and rehabilitation can return to living independently or maintain their existing independence. This is to be welcomed as it plays an important part in ensuring that the people of Wales have a right to housing, and housing appropriate and suitable to their needs. This is a crucial principle, as we move forward, to answer the housing crisis.
As your guidance notes, we are facing a number of growing challenges with regard to healthcare, social care and housing in Wales. We have an ageing population. The 2018-based population projections estimate that the total population age 65 and over will increase by over a quarter over the next 20 years, with the number of those age 75 and over rising by almost 50 per cent to a little under 0.5 million people by 2041. Alongside age-related poor health and disability, other growing challenges include greater numbers of people with existing conditions living longer into older age, with cumulative health impacts, such as people with a learning disability or dementia. For these populations to live independently with dignity and care, the housing-with-care fund must be effective in responding to the challenges ahead.
We also need to ensure that the accommodation and care needs of particularly vulnerable groups, who are not able to live fully independently, are met as close to home as possible. As it stands, many children and young people are placed each year in out-of-county or out-of country placements, as you mentioned yourself, Minister, which is costly, reduces local control over the person's health and care management, impacts on family contact and relationships and the well-being and outcomes of the individual. So, as a more overarching question, I'd like to ask the Minister what lessons she has learned from the previous integrated care fund with regard to how it helped respond to the aforementioned challenges and what bearing these lessons have had on the new fund. Can the Minister also explain how much input health providers, social care providers and occupational therapy are having in developing housing plans, from spatial plans, such as our LDPs, to individual sites, to ensure that people's needs are answered?
Another stated key driver of this fund is the need for intermediate health and care services in the community and adequate facilities to provide step-up or step-down reablement and rehabilitation at a local level through the provision of appropriate bedded facilities, as well as community facilities that reflect home environments, supported by appropriate care and rehabilitation services. With regard to the need for these facilities, how successful was the last fund in terms of delivering these requirements? And with regard to this four-year capital programme, with a confirmed £181.5 million over the first three years, what targets do you have for the delivery and the construction of facilities by 2025-26? In terms of projects funded by the ICF, an evaluation found that key barriers to funded projects included the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of annual funding arrangements and the implications that this has had upon staff recruitment and retention. On the point regarding staff recruitment and retention, I'm keen to hear from the Minister how the new fund will respond to this challenge. Diolch.