Last week in the Commons, the chancellor lavished more than 8,000 words on his plans to shore up the British economy. But three words were conspicuously, unforgivably absent from his hour-long spring Budget statement: adult social care.

The single expenditure that accounts for more than half of the annual outgoings of local councils up and down the country. The issue that haunts entire generations when conversation turns to who will look after their parents when they need help in years to come – and how will it be paid for. On adult social care, the former health secretary didn't have a single word to say.