§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many residential care and nursing(a) homes and (b) places he estimates there will be in (i) 2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004. [921]
§ Jacqui SmithNo estimates have been made centrally of the number of residential or nursing care homes in 2002, 2003 and 2004, nor of the places within those homes. On behalf of the Department, the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) has made longer term projections of future levels of demand for long-term residential and non-residential care services for older people on a range of assumptions. The PSSRU projected that, keeping pace with demographic pressures, the number of older people in residential and nursing care homes will respectively rise by 12 per cent. and 13 per cent. over the period 1996 to 2010. This is equivalent, for both types of care, to almost 1 per cent. a year.