The Journey to Welfare State 2

David looks at the challenges we face with regard to Long Term Care, and explains why we need a radical re-think of the Welfare State.  

As Society ages this will bring major challenges to our communities. Many families are already finding the care of elderly relatives a costly and difficult matter.

David is one of the few MPs in the country who has made a detailed study of this problem, working closely with Staffordshire University. He is putting forward coherent proposals to help us find effective ways of meeling these new challenges.

MP’s SEMINAR HAS AMBITIOUS AIMS FOR FUTURE OF WELFARE STATE

4th April Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney jointly hosts a seminar with Staffordshire University to discuss the future of Britain’s welfare state. Civil servants from three Government Departments will be coming to Stafford for this discussion, along with national and County representatives of the private, public and voluntary sectors.

Mr. Kidney explains why he is taking this initiative:

“In the darkest days of the Second World War, Britain asked William Beveridge to design what we have come to know as the welfare state. The present was grim and people yearned for a better future. The first Government in peacetime Britain after that War built the welfare state that is so familiar to us all today.

“But the Beveridge plan never envisaged citizens living into their 80’s, 90’s and over 100 years. He could not have foreseen the changes in family shapes and sizes, large numbers of working women nor the complex health and social care needs of elderly relatives.

“The demographic and societal changes over the course of this generation have rendered the original welfare state inadequate. It remains a magnificent construct, a tribute to our predecessors – building a better world while fighting off the threat of fascism – but it doesn’t meet the full range of needs now evident.

“We can celebrate what the welfare state currently does well - brilliant support for us in ill-health, in unemployment, sickness, injury and retirement.  But we must redesign the welfare state for today’s changed society, and we have to try to anticipate the further changes that will occur in the future.

“We shall debate what this new welfare state should look like and what services it should contain. We shall consider what it will likely cost, who should pay towards it and how.  We aim to contribute to the national debate that is already taking place and which will lead to the publication of a new Government Green Paper later this year.

“And while we are about it, we will look at our existing systems of health and social care in Staffordshire and see what we can already do better. We can anticipate some of the changes that are bound to take place as a result of the national debate. We can get started now on further improving services for our residents who are disabled, their carers and those who live so much longer in retirement and who need increasing levels of health and social care as a result.