Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 28 March 2023.
Thank you. The findings of the recent Equality and Human Rights Commission's report 'Challenging adult social care decisions in England and Wales' include: local authorities make daily decisions about people's access to social care and people have a right to challenge them, but people are not given crucial information about how to challenge decisions. They fear that if they challenge decisions, they will face negative consequences and lose access to care, and that, as a result, the system is failing those who need it. People are deterred from seeking help and feel ignored and disempowered. Some people are in crisis and desperate for help.
This is certainly reflected in my own constituent casework, particularly in certain counties. How will you therefore respond to the report's recommendation that the Welsh Government work with local authorities and others to improve the collection and analysis of equality data from social care users, including those who challenge decisions? They state this data should be
'used to identify and address poor outcomes' where they're experienced by people who share particular protected characteristics.