§ Miss Wrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate, at the latest convenient date, of the average cost of caring for the elderly in (a) geriatric hospitals and (b) local authority residential accommodation.
§ Sir George YoungProvisional figures for the year ended 31 March 1979 indicate that the average daily cost of maintaining a patient in a geriatric hospital was £17.77. The average daily cost of maintaining a resident in a local authority home for the elderly in the same year was £7.23.
Both these figures exclude capital costs and certain administrative costs not separately identified, and take no account of income from charges. The figure for a local authority home for the elderly is based on information taken from "Personal Social Services Statistics 1978–79 Actuals" published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Account- 150W ancy, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.