§ Ms SquireTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to review the present threshold for means testing for residential care.[44587]
§ Mr. GalbraithThe Government have no plans to review the present capital limit of £16,000 above which residents are required to meet the full cost of accommodation from their own resources. A Royal Commission has been set up to consider the system of funding the long-term care of elderly people in the UK and18W to recommend how the cost of care should be shared between public funds and private individuals. The means test should therefore be central to the Commission's deliberations.