asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many home helps were available to the Hampshire County Council at the nearest convenient date ; how many this number represented per 1,000 population aged 65 years and over ; and how this figure compares with that for England and Wales.

The numbers of home helps employed by the Hampshire County Council and in England and Wales at 30th September 1972, the latest date for which figures are available, were as follows:group of hospitals ; and how many were not in use at the latest available date.

On 31st December 1973 there were 682 staffed beds available of which 248 were unoccupied. The number of unoccupied beds is invariably high at the end of December because as many patients as possible are sent home for Christmas.