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Everyone agrees that the nation needs more homes in well designed communities where people want to live. Building new houses can kick-start the economy, provide accommodation for workers, play a big role in regeneration and create jobs.

As we prepare for the announcement from the Dilnot commission, care issues have moved onto the national agenda. It comes in the wake of the BBC's shocking Panorama documentary, the ongoing fall-out from Southern Cross having financial problems and a wider environment of cuts.

Neighbourhoods where there is a strong attachment to traditional values of thrift, hard work and independence; where there is a reluctance to rely on the state; where there is a concern to do one's best for one's children. Is this Middle England? No, it's a description of six disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Britain, studied in depth over a period of three years.

In a matter of weeks, Andrew Dilnot will announce the conclusions of his independent Commission on the Funding of Care and Support. Alongside Dame Jo Williams and Lord Norman Warner, they will have spent a year reviewing existing evidence, gathering fresh data, consulting and deliberating.