§ Mr. Sayeedasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what information he has as to the average cost per annum of providing a home help;
(2) what study he has made of the correlation between increased levels of provision of home help services and the additional numbers of elderly or infirm people who could continue to live in their own homes or in a warden-controlled environment instead of being admitted to hospital or full-time residential care; what estimate he has made of the relative cost implications involved; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what study he has made of the correlation between increased levels of provision of home help services and the additional average length of time which elderly or infirm people could continue to live in their own homes prior to requiring full-time residential or nursing care; what is the current average cost per week of providing full-time residential or nursing care to an elderly or infirm person; what is the average current cost per week of providing home help assistance to an elderly of infirm person; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenA number of recent research projects sponsored by the Department have examined the 275W relationship between residential and community care for the elderly. In particular a study in Coventry from 1975 to 1978 sponsored jointly by the Department, the Joseph Rowntree memorial trust and Coventry city council made some useful estimates of the specific correlation referred to in the questions for the 65 clients of the home help services in the sample and the cost implications. These have to be treated with caution and cannot be reliably projected on to a national scale owing to the small size of the sample and the fact that home help is only one of a range of services required to enable elderly or infirm people to continue living in their own homes. A recent report by the Audit Commission has examined the operation of the home help services in the context of other services for the elderly.
Information about average costs of certain local authority services is in the annual publications of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy entitled "Personal Social Services Statistics". Their latest report covering expenditure for 1982–83, although not based on a complete coverage, shows that the average hourly cost of home help service in England and Wales was £2.97, but as the number of hours provided for clients varies according to their needs it is not possible to make a valid comparison with the £90.59 a week of full time care in a local authority residential home for the elderly in England and Wales.
The average contribution under the supplementary benefit scheme for the support of elderly or infirm persons in private residential homes and nursing homes was £75.80 a week in 1983.