MP offers care home solution

David Kidney believes such schemes could be the solution and he is planning to hold urgent talks with the council to discuss the idea.

The council was on the verge of recommending the closure of eight homes across the county but at the 11th hour the cabinet put the decision on hold.

Then council leader Councillor Terry Dix publicly apologised for riding rough-shod over the feelings of pensioners and agreed to defer the decision until a full and complete consultation exercise had been carried out.

Mr Kidney spoke after a conference in Stafford to look at how social enterprises can meet the needs of communities. "Social enterprises allow enterprising people with a social conscience to provide services that society needs," he said. "It certainly might help resolve the county council's dilemma over residential homes and day centres," he added.

"The council cannot yet point to replacement services for those that it provides directly. I will ask it to help me to investigate if social enterprises can step in to provide services where appropriate. I can see that there is scope for some existing enterprises to step forward and help us while some new, additional social enterprises could also be created," said Mr Kidney.

He said for that to happen, the council would have to co-operate and discuss with him and other interested groups a way forward that will enable social enterprises to prosper.

Mr Kidney believes the attitude could also be a role model to save some post offices and village shops, but for smaller communities a more realistic response may be a community owned and run post office and shop.

The conference, at St George's Hospital, was organised by Mr Kidney along with South Staffordshire Healthcare and Staffordshire Community Council. More than 100 people attended to debate how social enterprises could meet the needs of communities. Mr Kidney said one of the speakers, Steve Wallace of the Cabinet Office, made clear that it is Government policy to support social enterprises.

And Martin Kinsella, Chief Executive of charity P3, inspired the delegates as he set out how he built up P3 as a social enterprise to become the Sunday Times Business of the Year 2007.

"What we need to do now in Staffordshire is to work together to identify activities ripe for social enterprise," said Mr Kidney.