§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions he has made to ensure that funding of independent residential care providers encourages them to supply expected increases in demands on their services from 2005 onwards. [149826]
§ Dr. LadymanThere have been substantial increases in the level of funding provided for social services in recent years and it will continue to increase in the period to 2005–06. Councils can use these extra resources to increase local service provision taking into account the needs of the local population and the local supply of services.
We know that the majority of older people do not want to be in a care home and we are responding to this by investing in new models of provision such as extra-care housing schemes. It seems likely that the number of older people requiring residential care will not rise as fast as demographic pressures alone would suggest.