§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the number of people in residential and nursing homes who find that their capital has fallen below £16,000 before the responsible Social Services Department has completed an assessment; and what estimate he has made of the savings that accrue to local authorities as a result of not backdating in these cases; [51571]
(2) if he will make it his policy to require social services departments to backdate financial assistance for residential and nursing home placements to the date the person applied for an assessment or the date their capital reduced to £16,000 whichever is the sooner. [51570]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Department does not collect information on the number of people who are in residential and nursing homes who request back dating for financial assistance following an assessment of their care needs. We have no plans to introduce backdating provisions. The Community Care (Residential 531W Accommodation) Act 1998 which comes into force from 11 August clarifies the point at which local authorities should provide financial assistance. We will issue guidance to accompany the Act shortly that will clarify the responsibilities of local authorities for assessing people requiring residential care whose capital has reduced to the upper capital limit of £16,000.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what assessment he has made of the impact of his Department's guidance, LAC(98)8, on people in residential care who wish to fund a more expensive placement than the local authority would fully fund; [51573]
(2) what reasons his Department issued circular LAC(98)8 to replace the guidance set out in LAC(92)27. [51572]
§ Mr. BoatengWe issued the new guidance in Local Authority Circular (98)8 to clarify the fact that residents cannot choose more expensive accommodation than the local authority would normally expect to fund, unless a third party can contribute to the extra cost, because the previous guidance, LAC(92)27, was ambiguous on this point. The legal basis for this was set out in the consultation paper 'A New Partnership for Care in Old Age' in May 1996, which is that there is no provision under the National Assistance Act 1948 for a resident placed by a local authority to make up the difference between what the authority is prepared to pay and a home's charges out of their capital below £16,000. No information is collected centrally on the number of people wishing to fund more expensive placements.