§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate how much local authorities are saving as a result of payments being made through supplementary benefit to residents in private residential care homes.
§ Mr. WhitneyIt is not possible to determine how many residents in receipt of supplementary benefit would have been sponsored by a local authority had supplementary benefit not been available to them. However, the following information may be helpful:
Number of residents in receipt of supplementary benefit in private and voluntary residential care Number of local authority sponsored residents in registered voluntary and private homes and hostels 1979 11,000 25,017 1980 12,000 25,884 1981 12,000 24,487 1982 15,700 23,359 1983 *25,800 22,053 1984 †42,50O *20,407 * Provisional. † Estimate.