§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to make the responses to his Department's consultation paper on the Community Care (Direct Payments) Bill available to members of the technical advisory group which advised the Government on technical issues about implementation of direct payments. [25533]
§ Mr. ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish a summary of responses to his Department's consultation paper on the Community Care (Direct Payments) Bill; and what other steps he will take to fulfil the undertaking given in that document in respect of copies of responses being made available to the public. [25534]
§ Mr. BowisNo, I have published them in full. Copies of the responses are in the Library and are available to members of the public on request.
§ Mr. ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many responses he has received to his Department's consultation paper on the Community Care (Direct Payments) Bill from(a) disabled people, (b) organisations representing disabled people, (c) local authorities, (d) other groups or individuals providing care and (e) other organisations and individuals. [25535]
§ Mr. BowisA total of 284 responses were received in England, 49 were received in Scotland, 49 were received in Wales and 36 were received in Northern Ireland.
Of the English responses, 79 were from local authorities. The consultation paper did not ask people to provide any information about themselves in their responses, so information on the remaining responses is not available in the form requested. Thirty-four responses were from individuals, some of whom indicated that they were disabled; others said that they were providing informal care, but others did not give the reason for their interest. Similarly, many of the responses from organisations were representing disabled people and others were representing providers of care, but in many cases it is not clear whether the organisations would consider themselves to be in either category.