§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security further to his reply of 21 February,Official Report, column 261, if he will list the amount of money given to each local authority in order to place people in private residential care homes to meet the full fees or the shortfall in fees.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyI have been asked to reply.
Local authorities may choose to provide residential care in their own homes or by arranging places in independent sector homes. They also have the discretion to provide financial support for people under pension age in independent sector homes.
Central Government do not specify in detail how local authorities should allocate the overall resources available to them but rather indicate their view of appropriate spending through standard spending control totals. The total covering personal social services, including specific grants, is £4,503 million for 1991–92, an increase of 23.4 per cent. over the equivalent figure for 1990–91. Information about personal social services standard spending assessments by individual local authority is given in the Department of the Environment's standard spending assessment handbook for 1991–92, a copy of which is in the Library.