§ 20. Miss Joan Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will meet the trade union leaders who negotiate on behalf of home helps to discuss the adequacy of their numbers to meet the requirements of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act.
§ Mr. RossiIt would not be helpful for Ministers to attend such a meeting. The number of home helps needed to meet requirements is best determined by individual local authorities, taking account of local needs and other local services.
§ 39. Mr. Cunliffeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that the number of home helps available to assist the long-term sick and disabled, under the terms of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, is adequate to meet current need.
§ Mr. RossiIt is very difficult to assess centrally whether the number of home helps is adequate to meet I he needs of all the long-term sick and disabled people in the country. The number of hours of help required varies for each client and according to what other services are available locally. This is a matter for each local authority to determine.
§ 32. Mr. Mortonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many social services departments of local authorities now meet the national guidelines for 12 home helps per thousand people over 65 years of age.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergMy reply to the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Mr. John) on 25 January 1982—[Vol. 16, c.284–5]—indicated that in September 1980 10 out of the 109 social services authorities had attained the former national guideline of 12 or more home helps per 1,000 people over65. It is now generally accepted that a national guideline in these narrow quantitative terms is no longer helpful because it fails 251W to reflect the diversity of different authorities' needs and the different patterns of services available from place to place for the support of elderly people in the community.