§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the number of persons regularly receiving home-help service and his Department's estimate of the number of persons entitled to the service; on what basis his Department's calculation is made; what are the total sums involved; and what were the corresponding figures in the past five years.
§ Mr. DeakinsInformation about the number of individuals receiving a home-help service is not held centrally. The number of households receiving this service in England in the year ending 31st March 1976 and in each of the previous five years, is given in the following table. Most of these households received the service on a regular basis.
A B C Year Numbers of households in receipt of home-help service Gross expenditure Thousands £ million 1970 … 443.2 27.255 1971–72 … 473.9 34.860 1972–73 … 524.0 39.710 1973–74 … 565.3 51.120 1974–75 … 615.0 73.258 1975–76 … 652.8 Not yet available These figures are based on local authority returns. Those in column B for years prior to 1972 relate to year ended 31st December and thereafter to year ended 31st March.
All figures in column C relate to year ended 31st March.
They include administrative costs for the years 1970–71 and 1971–72 but not 305W thereafter, due to a change in the basis of local authority returns.
It is not possible to give an estimate of the number of households or persons who might be entitled, under the terms of Section 13(1) of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968, to receive home-help service. Questions of priority in respect of those who apply for service are matters for local authorities to decide in the light of local cirumstances.