§ Mr. IrvingTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will issue guidance to all regional health authorities to have regard to the total cost of care on the basis of differing dependency levels when setting the level of their grant to local authorities.
§ Mr. NewtonWe have no plans to issue further guidance, but the funding of community care will be considered in the context of Sir Roy Griffiths' review.
Current guidance to health and local authorities on the transfer of resources with patients moving out of hospital and into personal social services care is set out in HC(83)6 (LAC(83)5).