asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in private and voluntary residential and nursing homes in the United Kingdom are having their fees wholly or partly paid by supplementary benefit board and lodging payments; what is the annual cost of such support; and if he will break down the figures by region, by client type, elderly, mentally ill, mentally handicapped and physically handicapped and into residential and nursing homes, respectively.

In December 1984, the latest available date, 42,000¹ residents of private and voluntary residential care and nursing homes in Great Britain were receiving supplementary benefit to help with their fees at an estimated annual cost of £200 million. These figures cannot be broken down by region, client group or type of home.The only available information on the number of claimants by social security region and client group is that obtained from a special survey of residents claiming benefit during April to July 1985. The information is contained in a Department of Health and Social Security document "Supplementary Benefit Board and Lodging Allowances, Results of a Special Statistical Exercise (29 April — 29 July 1985)", a copy of which is in the Library.A special statistical exercise conducted in Northern Ireland in December 1986 indicated that 1,648 people in private and voluntary residential and nursing homes were receiving supplementary benefit towards their fees at an annual cost of about £10·6 million. The numbers in different types of home were as follows: