Royal Commission on Long-term Care

HC Deb 18 March 1999 vol 327 cc775-6W

Mrs. Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing paragraph 6.53 of the report by the Royal Commission on Long-term Care(a) to the Scottish Executive and (b) to local authorities. [75493]

Mr. Galbraith

[holding answer 10 March 1999]Paragraph 6.53 of the Royal Commission report recommends that personal care should be free both in residential settings and at home and estimates the UK cost at £1.12 billion. The approximate Scottish share of this total, based on the proportion of people over 65 living in Scotland, would be £94.4 million.

We are undertaking work at present to refine this figure further to take into account the differences in relative wealth, cost of residential and home based care and service provision in Scotland.

From 1 July 1999, these matters will be for the Scottish Parliament.