§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received concerning different methods of treating income and capital of people in residential homes and their spouses who are supported by both supplementary benefit and a local authority through topping-up payments; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonRepresentations have been made by a few local authorities and voluntary bodies. Basic differences in the local authority and supplementary benefit systems have given rise to difficulty in some cases, but where a person's means have already been assessed for supplementary benefit purposes a local authority is not obliged to make a separate assessment when topping up. We shall be considering with the local authority associations how differences in the respective systems can best be reconciled.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice he gives concerning their place of ordinary residence for the purposes of the National Assistance Act 1948 to people in residential care sponsored by a local authority, other than that in which the home is situated, responsibility for whose financial support is transferred to his Department.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe local authority responsible for providing services under the National Assistance Act would be the authority in whose area the person concerned was ordinarily resident immediately before the need for the provision arose. Which local authority this is, is a matter to be determined on the facts in each case. If the right hon. Member has a particular case in mind, he may care to write to me.