asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many private residential homes for the elderly in Lancashire were deregistered in each of the years 1979 to 1985.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many private residential nursing homes for the elderly in the Greater London area have been de-registered in each year since 1979;(2) how many staff were employed by his Department for monitoring the de-registrations of private residential nursing homes for the elderly, in each of the years 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984.

Prior to 1 January 1985 this information was not held centrally. Since that date we have received no notifications of cancelled registrations in Lancashire or the Greater London area.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, for each year since 1978, how many homes have been registered (a) as nursing homes, (b) as residential care homes and (c) dually as both nursing and residential care homes; and in each case how many homes are run by (i) voluntary organisations and (ii) private proprietors.

The number of homes registered under the Residential Homes Act 1980 and under the Nursing Homes Act 1975 was as follows:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what representations he has received on how residential and nursing homes will be affected by the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements and Resources) Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 1985; and if he will make a statement.

We have received a number of representations on the possible effects of the Supplementary Benefit (Requirements and Resources) Miscellaneous Provisions Regulations 1985 on residential care and nursing homes. These have come from hon. Members and from individuals and organisations representing residential care and nursing home interests. We are monitoring closely the impact of the regulations and will take appropriate account of the representations received as part of that process.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has received complaints that some local authorities are failing to accept responsibility for making assessments for residential or nursing home care.

Local authority social services departments would normally assess applicants only for places in their own residential homes or for places provided by them under arrangements made with voluntary or privately run residential care homes. It would be for district health authorities to do likewise for patients placed in nursing homes under contractual arrangement. We have received no complaints about local authorities failing to make such assessments, but we are aware of concern about assessment of clients otherwise supported from public funds in residential care homes. A joint working party with the local authority associations has been considering what scope there is for improving collaboration between the Department and local authorities over assessment of need and in ensuring that charges met from public funds are reasonable and represent value for money. The working party's report is being considered by us and the associations and we shall be discussing it with them in due course.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services, for each year since 1978, what financial support each local authority has given to (a) residents in residential homes, (b) day-care centres and (c) topping up payments.

Information relating to total and net spending by each local social services authority on residential care and day centres is published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in its annual volumes "Personal Social Services Statistics: Actuals", copies of which are in the Library. These cover years up to 1983–84; figures for 1984–85 are not yet available. Under the supplementary benefit regulations, local authority topping up of supplementary benefit support for people in private and voluntary homes has been possible only since 29 April 1985.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) public residential homes for the elderly there were in London in each of the last five years.

Information on the numbers of homes for the elderly and disabled in Greater London is given in the table: