§ Lord Mancroftasked Her Majesty's Government:
What role they envisage for the private sector in the provision of facilities for the treatment of alcoholism, substance misuse, eating disorders and related psychiatric conditions; and what steps they are taking to encourage this provision.
§ Baroness HooperHealth authorities are already able to purchase health care services from private sector providers, including services for client groups such as those referred to, when in their view it is cost effective to do so. Local authorities are now preparing their community care plans prior to the full implementation of community care in April 1993, and are required to consult all relevant agencies, including potential private sector providers. The purchasing of social care services will then be a matter for individual local authorities, but they have been specifically encouraged to purchase social care services from a range of service providers, including from the voluntary and private sectors, as part of the development of a mixed economy of care.