To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list for each year from 1979 to 1987 (a) the number of places in (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) local authority residential homes for elderly people; (b) the number of places for elderly people in independent, voluntary and private, homes supported by supplementary benefit payments, (c) the total supplementary benefit expenditure in £million on supporting people in independent residential care for the elderly and (d) the average expenditure per person supported in independent residential care for the elderly.

The available information on the number of places in residential care homes for elderly people is as follows:

England as al 31 March	Local Authority Homes	Voluntary Homes	Private Homes
1985	102,534	26,402	73,606
1986	101,466	25,566	86,925

Separate data on residential homes for elderly people only are not available prior to 1985. Further information on residential accommodation for elderly and younger disabled people for the years 1979–1986 is contained in the Department's publications "Residential Accommodation for the Elderly and for Younger Physically Handicapped People Local Authority Supported Residents — RA/ 86/1" and "Residential Accommodation for Elderly and Younger Physically Handicapped People — RA/86/2", copies of which are available in the Library.Separate information on supplementary benefit for people in independent residential care homes for elderly people has been available only since 1985. There were 35,200 claimants in such homes at May 1985, 48,900 at May 1986 and 61,600 at May 1987.Separate information on total expenditure and average payments to people in these homes is not available. Figures relating to all supplementary benefit claimants in private and voluntary residential care and nursing homes were published in "Public Support for Residential Care" (the report of a joint central and local government working party), a copy of which is in the Library. Comparable figures for May 1987 are 117,000 claimants, receiving average payments of £ 104·6 (at February 1986 prices) with a total expenditure of £671 million.