The Department of Social Care has enjoyed a successful first year since its creation on 1st April 2010. It is delivering a wider range of services to more service users than ever before – and it has done so within its budget for 2010/11. (Note: Gross Revenue Expenditure in 2010/11 was ?313m; this will be ?319m in 2011/12). It has achieved this by implementing a wide range of efficiency savings while improving the value for money of key services. In Housing, over 100 first-time buyers properties and over 100 public sector rented properties were completed, the highest ever in one year since the 1950s. Due to this unprecedented investment in housing, this Government is on course by the end of its term to provide more affordable housing than any Government since the 1950s. This high level of investment is set to continue: the Department for Social Care is leading an ambitious programme to build much more public sector housing costing ?130 million over the next 5 years. In Social Services, the Department continues to expand its community based services which enable both improved services and reductions in residential care costs and so deliver ever-better value for money to the taxpayer. For Children and Families Services, the Department entered into a new contract with Fostering First (which is part of the Children’s Centre) in order to expand fostering for many of the Island’s looked after children. Fostering is shown to deliver better outcomes for the young people concerned than residential care. Also it can cost a quarter of the cost of residential care. As a result, better care is being achieved at lower cost. The Department developed a joint strategy for meeting the needs of looked after children with our partners in the third sector (the Children’s Centre, St Christopher’s and the Adoption Service). As a result the Department signed new contracts with our partners which delivered a saving of ?500,000 in 2010/11 and are expected to deliver a further saving of ?9m over the next 5 years, principally through the closure of several small children’s residential homes as the new strategy takes effect. For Adults Services, the Department is continuing to expand its Home Care services for both the disabled and older people, both in terms of availability (which increased during the last year from up to 5 days a week to up to 7 days a week) and the number of users served. This will enable more people to remain in their home, which is the stated preference of the large majority of service users. Also Home Care can cost less than a quarter of the cost of residential care, hence this strategy is also improving value for money. Mental Health Services continued to see substantial growth in demand for its services. This is consistent with other countries which are investing in mental health as a key means to improve the health and well-being of their people. For example, in the last year the UK Government identified psychological therapies as its top priority for investment in the NHS. In the Isle of Man, the Department has reduced waiting times in key areas of Mental Health without additional resources by investing in IT systems and other efficiency improvements. In Social Security, the Department has taken steps to ensure only those people in genuine need are in receipt of benefits. During the year, more individual claimants had their benefits reduced or stopped due to fraudulent claims than in any year in the last 20 years. At the same time, additional benefits have been provided to those deemed in need, for example the mobility allowance for the severely visually impaired was increased by ?30 a week. The Department saved over ?1m in efficiency and related measures last year and is budgeted to save a further ?1m this year. The budget for this year (2011/12) is 1% less than last year. Across the Department, efforts have been made to deliver efficiency savings to protect frontline services. For example, the Department is reducing its premises costs by ?250,000 a year by exiting leased buildings and fitting the affected staff into existing Government-owned premises. This efficiency work is continuing. For example, this year the Department is removing around 20 managerial and administrative posts through natural wastage and redeployment, enabling additional frontline posts to be created to meet rising demand for some services which are being expanded within existing budgets. Minister for Social Care Martyn Quayle MHK commented: “I am delighted that the Department of Social Care, which is the largest Department of Government in relation to spending and the third largest Department in relation to number of employees, has got off to such a good start, breaking records in key areas of service such as housing while staying within our ?300 Million budget. May I take this opportunity to thank my Political Members – Bill Malarkey MHK, Alan Crowe MLC and Bill Henderson MHK – as well as my officers who have worked so hard over the last year to achieve this. I must stress that the outlook for the Department is more challenging than ever before. The 1% budget cut would be a straightforward matter – IF the demand for my Department’s services was static. However, that is far from the case. The pressures on my Department of growing demand are immense as the make-up of our community changes. The single biggest challenge is the growing number of older people with high expectations for my Department to provide them with pensions, benefits, accommodation and other services. Within the next 15 to 20 years, the number of over-65s will grow by half while the number of over-75s will double. When the Department was formed on 1 April 2010, it was paying pensions to 17,000 people; today that figure is over 18,000. As over half of my Department’s ?319m annual budget is spent on older people, it is clear that this key social trend will create unprecedented costs for Government. This is not just a challenge facing the Isle of Man: every Government in Europe is having to consider similar issues and options for the future. In addition, the number of people with a disability – and particularly those with high dependency – has risen substantially in recent years due to medical advances. The cost to my Department of both these rising numbers and greater needs is very substantial and growing. Standards in child protection have risen substantially in recent years due to reforms designed to prevent repetition of high-profile cases of abuse in the UK. This also requires additional resources in what is a very people-intensive yet vital activity. As Minister, I cannot accept that the Island should apply a lower standard of child protection than the UK, hence this investment is essential. In Housing, I am conscious of calls for Government to build even more houses to help first-time buyers, families and specialist housing for older people and the disabled – yet the cost of housing to the taxpayer is already over ?8m a year – the equivalent of a penny on the basic rate of income tax – and rising by nearly ?1m a year. The Housing Review which I instigated earlier this year will consider issues and options surrounding what may be reasonable for Government to provide and how much individuals can be expected to contribute towards the cost of Government-funded affordable housing. As with other possible changes to Department policy, this will be subject to extensive consultation with the public, key stakeholders such as local authorities and Members of Tynwald. The Isle of Man is not unique in facing these challenges. Indeed, the Isle of Man is probably in a better position to address them than any of our neighbours in the British Isles. We now need to have a considered debate about how we as a community meet our care needs and the role of Government in doing so. That is why I am raising these issues at this time: to ensure the people of the Island understand my Department is already doing all that can reasonably be expected of it; to enable the electorate to consider the issues and their priorities; to enable these important matters to be considered as part of the forthcoming General Election; and so enable the incoming administration to take the necessary actions to protect the high quality of life and almost unparalleled economic growth we in the Isle of Man have enjoyed in recent years and perhaps have come to take for granted.” - ENDS -