HC Deb 26 January 2001 vol 361 c755W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 22 January 2001,Official Report, column 431W, (1) concerning care home bed numbers, how many local authorities were in the survey; and how many responded; [147283]

(2) if he will set out how and to whom the survey results were disseminated; [147281]

(3) if he will set out the judgments he came to in the light of the survey findings; [147280]

(4) what the estimated cost of the survey was. [147282]

Mr. Hutton

All 150 councils with social services responsibilities provided information. The information was obtained electronically. The cost of obtaining the information was therefore small but cannot be estimated accurately. The information was used to inform judgments by the regional offices of the social services inspectorate about the preparedness of councils. It was only disseminated within the Department.