WIREDGOV

Responding to the Queen's Speech, Sir Merrick Cockell, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said:

"The announcement of a draft bill in the Queen's Speech is a positive step towards addressing the very real crisis we are facing in providing care to our rapidly aging population.

"Councils across the political spectrum are united in now calling on Government to work with us to truly undertake radical reform by adopting a cap on the amount of risk individuals will be exposed to when planning for their care costs, introducing integrated health and social care commissioning to ensure a better quality of care, and addressing the shortfall in funding.

"We understand that reform is not an easy problem to solve and we know that reform comes with a price tag. But we believe it's a price worth paying. Along with our partners, we will shortly be setting out the local government offer to central government on how councils can play their part and make Dilnot's proposals manageable.

"The Prime Minister recently acknowledged that social care is "one of the biggest things we've got to get right in our public services". It's now time for all parts of government to come together to ensure reform, with appropriate funding, is done right."