Should we prioritise local or national control of budgets?
The consensus over the local vs. national issue was that there needed to be national control of budget, standards and assessment criteria with local delivery responsibility. Should there be one system for everyone or different systems for people with different needs? The overwhelming consensus was that financial support should be in proportion to the needs of the individual – each individual should have a needs assessment and funding should be according to need, and the same assessment should be applied to all. Should people get different levels of financial help from the government based on their personal income and assets? The strongest message to come through from the tables was that the government should be responsible for providing a basic entitlement that is available to all regardless of income and assets. There was a feeling that any system should be fair and should not penalise those who have saved all their lives.
