Bishop Sarah in the House of Lords


During the week commencing 21st November, the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, spoke in the House of Lords about a number of topics close to her heart, including on the living wage, health and social care workforce, and combatting soaring rents.
On Monday 21st November, Bishop Sarah asked an oral question of Health Minster Lord Markham on the Government’s thinking regarding the real living wage.
“My Lords, Enabled Living in Newham has become the first London-based social care provider to pay its workers the real living wage—the first such employer to do so. We have heard that social care workers are among the lowest paid, with one in five residential care workers living in poverty before the cost of living crisis, according to the Health Foundation. What assessment have the Government made of the real living wage and the impact that it could have on retaining valuable social care workers?”
On Tuesday 22nd, Bishop Sarah spoke of her concern at rising rents across the capital.
My Lords, rents in London are up to double the level of rents elsewhere in the UK. Crisis has warned that the number of people sleeping rough in London has risen by a quarter in just one year, and more than half of those spotted on the streets are sleeping rough for the first time. What are the Government doing to prevent those who are struggling to pay their increasing rents from falling into homelessness?”
On Thursday 24th, Bishop Sarah asked supplementary question about the Archbishops’ Reimagining Care Commission.
My Lords, the Archbishops’ commission on social care, which will be publishing its report next year, is also concerned about the inequitable funding when funding is raised through council tax. Can the Minister indicate how central money will reduce this inequality to accessing care and whether the Government are doing any evaluation of that?”
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