Miliband offers social care talks

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for an independent inquiry into abuse at a care home near Bristol, uncovered by the BBC’s Panorama programme.

He said he was “sickened” by the scenes at Winterbourne View and a Care Quality Commission probe was not enough.

A government source said an independent inquiry could be difficult while the police investigate the abuse.

Mr Miliband also made a “serious offer” of cross-party talks on the future of funding adult social care in England.

It follows Tory claims of a planned Labour “death tax” ahead of last year’s general election – which effectively ended previous hopes of getting cross-party agreement on funding adult social care.

Mr Miliband was speaking in London at his regular press conference – his first public appearance since his marriage two weeks ago.

His decision to speak out on social care follows the Winterbourne View revelations, the financial crisis at the UK’s biggest care homes provider Southern Cross and comes weeks before the independent Dilnot commission is due to report on the future of funding for adult social care in England.

Panorama uncovered a pattern of abuse at the privately owned Winterbourne View residential care home in Bristol – which led to 13 employees being suspended and four arrested. The government said at the weekend it would strengthen safeguards for vulnerable adults.

Mr Miliband said he was shocked and sickened by the scenes from Winterbourne View and called for an independent investigation into what happened.

“The government appears to believe that reviews by the Care Quality Commission and by South Gloucestershire Council are enough – it is not because these bodies were involved in the failure itself,” he said.

Last week it also emerged that Southern Cross, which runs 750 care homes, was having to reduce its rent payments as it struggles with its financial problems.

Mr Miliband said: “It is plain wrong that financiers creamed off millions, while as we now know the care of tens of thousands of elderly people was being put at risk. They seem to have been treated merely as commodities.”

He said it did not mean that “all private homes are bad” but that better regulation was needed of organisations’ finances – adding that the collapse of a major care provider could have consequences for the taxpayer.

Mr Miliband also said he wanted to make a “serious offer” of cross-party talks with Prime Minister David Cameron on the findings of the Dilnot commission into the funding of social care in England.

The commission was set up by the government last year and is due to report in July 2011.

Labour explored a number of options for reform of long term care for the elderly before the 2010 general election but the three largest parties failed to reach agreement on how to proceed.

Cross party talks broke down in March after the Conservatives launched a poster campaign claiming Labour was planning a £20,000 “death tax” to fund a National Care Service.

Mr Miliband said every previous attempt to resolve the issue had broken down – often due to the failure to find a political consensus.

“We will come to these talks with an open mind about the best way forward, not simply advocating what we have proposed in the past.

“But the principles are clear – high quality care for those that need it, funded in a fair way, with properly accountability for those who deliver the care.”

Asked what that meant for previous Labour care pledges – such as National Care Service, announced by Gordon Brown in his 2009 Labour conference speech – he said: “It doesn’t mean we are ditching our commitment… I’m still a supporter of that idea.”

But, he added, he would go into any cross-party talks with an open mind.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.