§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will make a statement on the payment of higher rates of supplementary benefit to residents of small private homes for three or fewer residents.
§ Mr. ScottHomes with fewer than four residents fall outside the registration system for residential care homes, but regulations provide that the same levels of benefit can notwithstanding be paid in such homes. The intention of the present regulations has been that this should occur only in homes providing a comparable service to those which are registered. Because some doubt has arisen as to whether they in fact achieve that effect, I have today laid draft regulations which seek to remove that doubt.