HC Deb 11 April 1978 vol 947 cc1170-1
10. Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement about his discussion with the local authority associations about boarding-out allowances.

Mr. Moyle

The local authority associations have begun work on the preparation of recommendations concerning age bands, age relativities and the assimilation of discretionary additions. As part of their general review of these matters they will take into account the scales published in my reply to my hon. Friend's Question on 14th February. They have, however, made it clear that guidelines which called for additional expenditure could not be introduced without a comparable increase in resources.

Mr. Bennett

I thank the Minister for that answer. I hope that he will agree that the tables published in the Official Report in February showed a wide discrepancy between one local authority and another in the levels of boarding-out allowances. Will he now introduce a minimum scale for all local authorities, so that we may bring up those authorities who pay such abysmally low scales?

Mr. Moyle

There were wide variations in my original answer. Some variation is to be expected, because the level of boarding-out scales is influenced by regional and local factors, including the availability of foster parents and the possible need to provide an incentive to fostering. The local authority associations are hoping to be able to review these wide variations in time for the 1979–80 rate support grant settlement.

Mr. Hodgson

Will the Minister widen his answer to cover foster parents generally? Is he aware that inequalities exist across all regions in all services connected with fostering? By what steps, and when, will those inequalities be ironed out?

Mr. Moyle

The local authorities hope to be able to make recommendations in time for the application of the 1979–80 rate support grant. Individual local authorities will be free to accept or reject those recommendations. We hope that as a result of consultations there will be a move towards greater uniformity.