§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice he has received from outs1Lcle the central Government about the outcome in terms of jobs, services and residential places for the elderly, young and handicapped if the Government's spending plans on the personal social services keep to their targets in the current and the next two financial years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonA wide variety of interests offer my right hon. Friend advice about the relation between expenditure and level of service. The hon. Member may have in mind the report of the joint central and local government expenditure steering group on personal social services and port health, mentioned inThe Guardian on 8 July, to which my hon. and learned Friend the Minister for Health responded with a statement published in the same paper the following day. The steering group's report provides advice in confidence to the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance, whose advice on local government spending as a whole the Government then considers.