§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what factors he based his decision to 302W reduce the amounts of money which old people can claim from his Department when seeking places in homes; and what assessments he made of the effects which this policy would have on such claimants.
§ Mr. NewtonThe new limits for residential care and nursing homes were set with reference to the information available to us on existing limits and charges, together with our determination on the amount we consider it reasonable for supplementary benefit to meet. We are monitoring the effects of the regulations closely.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of elderly people and handicapped citizens who have received financial support from his Department in each single year since 1979 for residence in homes or nursing homes and the range of the amounts of support which were granted to them during the same period.
§ Mr. Tony NewtonI regret that we have no information on handicapped citizens in this respect. The number of pensioners in private and voluntary residential care and nursing homes together with the average amount of benefit paid and total expenditure on the basis of December figures is in the table.
Year Number Average amount of benefit Total spend on basis of December figures £ £ million 1979 11,000 18.04 10 1980 12,000 28.11 18 1981 12,000 36.30 23 1982 14,000 47.27 34 1983* 23,000 75.25 90 * Provisional. Source: Annual Statistical Enquiries, December each year.
Note: Average benefit figures include personal expenses but are net of other incomes such as retirement pension, which fails to be taken into account in supplementary benefit assessment. The total in benefit payments does not therefore give an accurate reflection of the movement in charges; it indicates the movement in that part of the charge that fell to supplementary benefit to meet.