To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will meet the Association of Directors of Social Services to discuss their criticisms of the Department's guidelines in regard to assessing the community care needs of elderly disabled people and people who are mentally ill and the association's urgent call for more precise guidance; and if she will make a statement.

I met the Association of Directors of Social Services last month, as did the chief inspector of the Department's social services inspectorate. On neither occasion was the need for an urgent meeting on this guidance raised.