§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the advantages over the arrangements now operating in England of the proposed new grant scheme for promoting the development of more flexible forms of community care for elderly people and for people with physical or sensory disabilities; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettThis grant scheme has been introduced in 1991–92, for which we have announced allocations of £1.3 million to pump-prime innovation. It is too early to judge its effectiveness. Selected schemes will be subject to independent evaluation, along the lines of the existing arrangements to evaluate our earlier initiative to promote the development of innovative services for elderly people, with the aim of identifying and disseminating good practice. However, our main effort of assessment will go into the wider annual review of performance of social services and health authorities in developing effective social and community care, for which the principal means of Government financial support are, and will remain, the revenue support grant to local authorities and mainstream allocations to health authorities.