HC Deb 16 December 1982 vol 34 cc248-51W
Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report such information as is available to him as to those local authority social services departments currently employing more home helps than in May 1979 and those employing fewer.

Mr. Newton

Information is not available for May 1979. The following table gives the numbers of whole-time equivalent home helps, where known, for 1979 and 1981 as at 30 September, the date to which the statistics refer.

Number of Home Helps (whole time equivalent)
As at 30 September 1979 As at 30 September 1981 Difference
West Midlands Region
Non-metropolitan Counties
Hereford and Worcester 565.3 584.5 + 19.2
Salop 242.1 242.0 -0.1
Staffordshire 873.0 *
Warwickshire 498.0 506.0 +8.0
Metropolitan CountyWest Midlands
Birmingham * 1,535.4
Coventry 402.2 383.0 -19.2
Dudley 218.0 250.0 + 32.0
Sandwell 297.0 303.0 +6.0
Solihull 111.0 70.9 -40.1
Walsall * 202.0
Wolverhampton * *
East Midlands Region
Non-metropolitan Counties
Derbyshire 850.0 972.9 + 122.9
Leicestershire * *
Lincolnshire 472.7 471.6 -1.1
Northamptonshire * 280.5
Nottinghamshire * *
London North Region
Non-metropolitan Counties
Bedfordshire 305.0 347.4 +42.4
Berkshire 521.8 484.0 -37.8
Buckinghamshire * 332.3
Cambridgeshire 448.0 *
Essex * 1,171.0
Hertfordshire * *
Norfolk 557.0 589.0 +32.0
Oxfordshire 322.5 398.4 +75.9
Suffolk 516.5 514.0 -2.5
Inner London Region
Cambden 409.0 396.6 -12.4
Greenwich 403.2 363.7 -39.5
Hackney * 371.7
Hammersmith 222.6 255.9 +33.3
Islington 211.2 224.9 +13.7
Kensington 121.0 128.9 +7.9
Lambeth * *
Lewisham 480.3 477.2 -3.1
Southwark * 378.0
Tower Hamlets * 201.6
Wandsworth 402.7 406.5 +3.8
Westminster 255.0 235.3 -19.7
City of London 8.4 90 +0.6
Outer London
Barking * 180.0
Barnet 195.6 198.5 + 2.9
Bexley 200.0 239.0 +39.0
Brent 221.8 272.1 +50.3
Bromley 202.5 288.4 +85.9
Croydon 334.0 191.6 -142.4
Ealing 252.0 248.3 -3.7
Enfield 230.5 217.3 -13.2
Haringey 421.0 398.4 -22.6
Harrow 137.3 153.7 + 16.4
Havering 208.2 215.5 +7.3
Hillingdon 200.1 229.1 +29.0
Hounslow * 149.2
Kingston upon Thames+ * *
Merton 198.5 196.2 -2.3
Newham 330.5 368.3 + 37.8
Redbridge 151.5 156.0 +4.5
Richmond upon Thames 91.6 122.0 + 30.4
Sutton 114.5 108.4 -6.1
Waltham Forest 306.2 *
Southern Region
Non-metropolitan Counties
Dorset 435.0 445.0 + 10.0
Hampshire 871.0 865.0 -6.0
Isle of Wight 66.0 69.0 + 3.0
Kent 890.0 932.8 +42.8
Surrey * 491.3
East Sussex 564.0 631.6 +67.6

Number of Home Helps (whole time equivalent)
As at 30 September 1979 As at 30 September 1981 Difference
West Sussex 425.5 490.2 +64.7
Wiltshire 380.0 369.0 -11.0
South Western Region
Non-metropolitan Counties
Avon 922.0 1,015.2 +93.2
Cornwall 299.3 294.4 -4.9
Devon 700.9 746.1 +45.2
Gloucestershire 435.0 448.0 +13.0
Somerset 356.0 377.9 +21.9
Isles of Scilly 1.0 *
†33,196.2 †34,275.6 +1,079.4
* Data not available.
† These totals include the figures only for authorities where both 1979 and 1981 data are available.

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list, for the last three years and to the latest available date, the numbers per thousand population aged over 65 years of: (a) home helps, (b) the cases for which home helps were provided and (c) the total hours of service; and what have been the percentage changes in each year.

Mr. Newton

Information about hours of service is not collected centrally. The available information is shown in the following table:

Home helps and home help cases
England
1979 1980 1981
Home helps* per 1,000
population aged 65 or more 6.55 6.46 6.66
Percentage change on previous year +2.8 -1.3 +3.1
Elderly persons assisted per 1,000
population aged 65 or more 94.5 95.5 n/a
Percentage change on previous year +4.0 +1.0 n/a
* Figures for home helps relate to 30 September of the previous year.