§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimates he has made of the number of(a) residential, (b) nursing and (c) dual registered homes 531W beds that will be (i) available and (ii) required in the (A) private and (B) public sector in each of the next five years. [39441]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 4 March 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to the hon. Members, the Member for Cheadle (Mrs. Calton) and the Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock) on 12 March 2002, Official Report, column 1009W.
The extra funding which we are making available to councils is designed to enable them to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in the system to meet individual long-term care needs.