§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to monitor, and to assess the relative costs of, care in a private residential nursing or care home and those within local authority control and to monitor the provision of care in the community including administrative tiers of management;
(2) if he will monitor the policies of local authorities towards private nursing homes and residential care homes.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyWe shall be monitoring the progress of local authorities in implementing our policy on community care. In particular, the monitoring of community care plans—to be produced from April 1992 —will look at the range of provision local authorities plan 239W to develop and commission. Monitoring will include looking at the resources applied to different forms of provision of care in the community and the development of a mixed economy of care. It will also include monitoring the performance of the arms-length inspection units which will be set up in April this year by local authorities to inspect residential care homes, in the public and private sectors.