§ Mr. MoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will specify the measures being taken to help those in residential care and nursing homes.
§ Miss WiddecombeSpecial higher levels of income support are available to people in residential care and nursing homes towards the cost of their fees. On 21 October, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced proposals for substantial increases, from April 1992, to the limits which apply to people in such homes, including increases of £20 a week for two groups of people—the mentally handicapped and the very dependent elderly—and £15 to almost all the other limits.
From April 1993, new arrangements will be implemented as part of the Government's community care policy for the assessment and provision of care for such people. This will improve the effectiveness and targeting of the resources.