Minister of State for Care Services Phil Hope speaks to the Guardian

Phil Hope took the opportunity of his visit to Tower Drive day care Centre in Milton Keynes, where the Primary Care Trust and Milton Keynes Council social care combine to provide a full range of services, to talk about the importance of integration and personalisation for a sustainable Social Care programme in which people are able to live independently for as long as possible.

"We have got to make people do this in all areas," says Phil Hope, Care Services Minister. "The pressures coming on budgets over the next few years will drive it. It's no longer a case of, 'We have a problem - let's put another layer of financial icing on the public services cake.' Those days have gone. We have got to rebake the cake."

The Minister also added that Integration should not stop at health and social care. Housing issues are key to independent living, whether through adaptations, assistive technology or also the possibility of downsizing from a family home to an extra care flat.