§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Social Service: if he will estimate the average local authority charge for the following services: home helps, meals on wheels, lunch clubs, day centres, domiciliary laundry services and residential homes.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to his reply, 5 December 1983, c. 65]: The information is not available in precisely the form requested.
Estimated average charges (including an element where one authority is paying for services provided by another) are:
- Day centre places: 87p per week (average for all client groups—the average charge is significantly lower for the elderly than for other client groups).
- Residential accommodation for the elderly and younger physically disabled: £33.25 per week.
It is not possible from information collected centrally to calculate an average charge for meals on wheels, home helps, lunch clubs or domiciliary laundry services which would represent at all accurately the amount usually charged Charges and the methods used to assess them are known to vary widely between authorities. A survey carried out by the Association of Metropolitan Authorities at the beginning of 1983 indicated that among responding authorities:
Home help charges were being made either at a flat rate of between 50p and £1 per week or as a rate in the £ or on a sliding scale according to the income of the person being charged. Those in receipt of Supplementary Benefit or Family Income Supplement were not charged in many authorities.
Meals on Wheels and Lunch Club charges were usually at a flat rate of between 20p and £1 per meal.
No recent information is held centrally on charges for domiciliary laundry services but some are known to be free and some subsidised; and charges may be according to weight, number of garments or on a flat rate.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many local authorities do not charge for home helps, meals on wheels, lunch clubs, day centres, and domiciliary laundry services.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to his reply, 5 December 1983, c. 65]: Information collected centrally shows that 24 authorities do not charge for home helps; 11 do not charge for meals on wheels; and 35 do not charge for laundry services. For day centres (excluding meals) 46 authorities do not charge the elderly and 11 do not charge 514W other client groups. For meals in day centres (including lunch clubs, for which information is not collected separately), 7 authorities do not charge.