§ Mr. Roweasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he proposes to take on the report of the working party on supplementary benefit and residential care; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonSupplementary benefit payments for people in residential care were among the matters considered by a working party, set up by my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Social Security, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales in conjunction with the local authority associations, which examined the scope for improving collaboration between the Department and local authorities over financial support for residents of private and voluntary residential care homes. A copy of the working party's report has been placed in the Library.
The working party's main conclusions were:
i. long term solutions should be sought to the problems created by the existing parallel systems of local authority and supplementary benefit support for people in residential care;andii. arrangements should be explored for extending local authorities' existing multi-disciplinary assessment arrangements to anyone in residential care claiming benefit and for local authorities to advise DHSS local offices on an appropriate level of payment for particular homes.These recommendations have now been discussed with the local authority associations and we have agreed to set up a further joint working party to consider means of harmonising financial support for people in residential care homes. We have also agreed to carry out pilot studies to test the feasibility of the initial working party's recommendations on assessing the need of supplementary benefit claimants for residential home care and on the provision by local authorities of advice on the reasonableness of charges. Consideration is also being given to the position of people in nursing homes who claim supplementary benefit.