HC Deb 04 February 1988 vol 126 cc749-50W
Mr. Irving

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will commission research into the provision and funding of private residential care for the mentally ill financed by supplementary benefit.

Mr. Scott

The following research projects on supplementary benefit and residential care, including residential care for mentally ill people, are already under way:

  1. (a.) Kent university's personal social services research unit and York university's centre for health economic—a national survey of private and voluntary residential care and nursing homes.
  2. (b.) The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys — a survey of small unregistered residential care homes and other establishments such as supported lodgings.
  3. (c.) The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys — a study of the characteristics of residential care and nursing homes.
  4. (d.) York university's social policy research unit—a study on the impact of charges in supplementary benefit legislation on private and voluntary residential care and nursing homes.

In addition, information on costs and charges in homes, including homes for mentally ill people, has been collected from a wide range of sources for our reviews of the supplementary benefit limits. In particular, in 1985 we commissioned Ernst and Whinney, a firm of independent management consultants, to examine the operation of the market in voluntary and private provision of residential care and nursing homes.

Any further research will need to be considered in the light of Sir Roy Griffiths' report on the funding of community care.