Caring for Our Future White Paper Engagement

The Government has identified six areas where they feel there is the biggest potential to make improvements to the care and support system.

Between now and December, they will be discussing these areas with a range of people and organisations involved with care and support. They want to hear about what people's priorities are, and feed this information directly into a White Paper that will be published in April 2012.

Some of our Think Local Act Personal Partners have asked for ideas and information about how to respond to the engagement exercise. Here are some easy ways to get more information about the engagement exercise and some ideas about how you can respond.

1. Accessing information about the Caring for Our Future engagement

• To get background information about the engagement, click on the link to Caring for Our Future http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk/category/priorities/.
• There are a number of videos and blogs which form part of a debate about the engagement exercise which can be viewed and shared.
• You can find a summary leaflet written in plain English which explains the engagement exercise here:
• And an easy read document has now been developed, with clear information about the engagement exercise. You can download this here

2. Having your say about how social care should change

The Government are interested to hear a wide range of views and we have highlighted below a number of ways you can ensure your views are recorded:

• Send comments directly to the DH website

The easiest way to do this will be to click on the following link: http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk/category/priorities/ and share your comments by completing the response box.

Or get involved in a two-way debate by replying to existing comments.

• Complete the DH feedback form

Click on the following link which takes you directly to the feedback form

http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk/get-involved/

• Email the DH team directly

If you wish to highlight a specific issue, you can send an email directly to the DH team - just email them at caringforourfuture@dh.gsi.gov.uk

• Use the Easy Read version of questions to support your discussions

The Easy Read version of Caring for Our Future contains six accessible questions (on page 9) which can be used to support discussions with members of the public.

Think Local Act Personal are also in the process of organising discussions with seldom heard groups. If you would like any further information about this initiative please contact Shahana Ramsden at shahana.ramsden@scie.org.uk.