§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide information on the unit costs of residential places provided by each local authority in England and Wales, with the comparable unit costs for private homes.
§ Mr. YeoThe local authority analysis of gross weekly cost per place filled excluding capital charges in local authority homes for elderly people in 1989–90, the latest date for which information is available, is given in "Key Indicators of Local Authority Social Services 1989–90", a copy of which is available in the Library.
These unit costs, which relate to England only, are based on data collected by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
Information relating to local authorities in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Wales.
Information about costs in the independent sector was produced in the Price Waterhouse report commissioned by the Department of Social Security, a copy of which is available in the Library.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement about how residents and potential residents and their next of kin will be informed of which services and facilities, as laid down in regulation 10 of SI (1984) No. 1345, should be provided and what complaints procedure will operate in a regulated small home.
§ Mr. YeoWe are considering responses to the consultation document issued earlier this year about the regulations which should apply to small residential care 681W homes once the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 is brought into force. Our intention is that the regulations should require that local authority registers should show whether a home is registered as a small home. Those consulting the registers will then be able to see which statutory requirements apply. More detailed information about individual homes will generally be available from the people running those homes and from other, independent sources.
We intend that the same requirements about complaints procedures should apply to registered small homes as already apply to larger homes.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will provide statistics on the proportion of elderly people aged over 75 years who die within three months after being moved from one residential home to another.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 regulations and commencement order will be laid before the House.
§ Mr. YeoRegulations amending the Residential Care Homes Regulations 1984 for the purpose of their application to small homes will be laid in the next few weeks. We hope to make the commencement order specifying when the Registered Homes (Amendment) Act 1991 will be brought into force at about the same time.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what precautions she intends to take to safeguard residents from eviction as a result of an owner of a small home being evicted himself for rent or mortgage arrears, by fraudulently obtaining multi-mortgages in order to run a number of small homes.
§ Mr. YeoIt is for local authorities to ensure that anyone in need of residential care not otherwise available is properly provided for.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps after 1 April 1993, a local authority would have to take to safeguard elderly residents, before refusing or terminating a contract with a home owner.
§ Mr. YeoIt will he for local authorities to devise their procedures for placing and reviewing contracts. The Government will expect local authorities to behave reasonably and sensitively, and give sufficient notice of their contracting policies and decisions. This could include providing any suitable assistance to minimise inconvenience to existing residents caused by the failure of the home in which they live to gain or retain a contract.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health after 1 April 1993, if the choice of potential residents in nursing and residential homes will be confined to those homes selected by local authorities, unless the residents can afford to pay the full charges.
§ Mr. YeoFrom April 1993 local authorities will place contracts with residential care and nursing homes on behalf of individuals who are assessed as needing such care and need to he publicly supported. We have made it clear that authorities should take into account people's preferences for the home they enter and not unreasonably682W restrict people's choice. We have also made it clear that local authorities' arrangements should be sufficiently flexible to allow relatives and friends to contribute, if they so wish, towards the cost of a place in a more expensive home than the authority would normally contract with.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what qualifications a person running a registered small home should have other than not having been found guilty of a criminal offence.
§ Mr. YeoThe Registered Homes Act 1984 provides that registration in respect of a residential care home for four or more people may be refused if a person is not considered fit to be involved in running the home. The same will apply to applications for registration from those planning to run small homes once the Registered Homes (Amendment Act) 1991 is brought into force. It is for registration authorities to interpret and apply this requirement.
§ Ms. CoffeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of how many of the existing private nursing and residential homes will close by 1994.
§ Mr. YeoInformation about the number of independent nursing and residential care homes that close is not collected centrally.