§ Mr. AltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will separately list for each of the last 10 years the sums of money paid by his Department to private and publicly owned residential homes for the elderly in support of their occupants.
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§ Miss WiddecombeThe Department does not pay money to private or publicly owned residential homes for the elderly in support of their occupants.
The Department has paid the following amounts of income support or supplementary benefit to claimants in residential care homes.
Year Annual expenditure (nearest £ million) 1981 23 1982 39 1983 104 1984 200 1985 259 1986 328 1987 438 1988 556 1989 658 1990 740 Notes:
1. The figures before 1985 include claimants in nursing homes.
2. Figures are not sufficiently reliable for the totals to be subdivided into elderly residents and others.
Information regarding amounts paid to people in publicly owned homes—part III—is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.