§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average cost per week to keep a person in (a) a private nursing and old people's home registered under the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act 1983 and (b) a comparable home run by a local authority.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Department does not have comprehensive information on the overall costs of keeping people in private nursing and old people's homes. Local authorities' current expenditure returns show that, for 1981–82, the average cost of maintaining elderly and younger physically disabled residents in local authority homes was £86 a week. Separate information about elderly residents is not held centrally.