§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the Government are doing to ensure that councils' policy on charging for domiciliary community care is in line with the national guidance by(a) 1 October 2002 and (b) 1 April 2003. 166154]
§ Jacqui SmithMonitoring of the implementation of this policy is being carried out by the Department's social services inspectorate, as part of a wider in-year monitoring programme. Councils have been asked to indicate the stage of preparation reached at 31 May 2002, in implementing the policy. Results are currently being processed. We propose to repeat the monitoring in autumn 2002 and spring of 2003.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure that local authorities consult users of domiciliary community care services when deciding on their charging policy. [66153]
§ Jacqui SmithThe guidance "Fairer Charging Policies for Home Care and other non-residential Social Services", issued in November 2001, requires councils to consult users and carers when deciding their charging policy. The guidance is issued under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 and is legally binding.