To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Government’s response to the royal commission on long term care, Cm 4818-II, page 8, in which years the Government’s investment would fund the cost of the Royal Commission's recommendation; what research his Department has commissioned to ascertain how much money goes to supporting older people in residential homes; and what recent estimates he has made of the average annual cost to his Department of supporting older people in residential care. (290280)

The Government accepted each of the royal commission on long term care’s recommendations except the recommendation to provide free personal care. Making personal care free for everyone carries a very substantial cost: the estimated cost is some £1.5 billion in 2003-04 rising to £2.65 billion in 2010-11.

The NHS Information Centre for health and social care publishes annually data on councils’ expenditure on residential care for older people. The latest data are £4,740 million gross or £3,340 million net of user charges for 2007-08.

The Department commissioned the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the London School of Economics to make projections of expenditure on long-term care for older people in England. In a joint study with the Universities of Essex and Birmingham, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, they estimated that the introduction of free personal care could cost between £1.3 billion and £1.8 billion or more in 2002—PSSRU Research Summary 40, available at:

www.pssru.ac.uk/researchsummaries.php

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish a response to his Department's consultation on ordinary residence guidance. (290393)

The response to the ordinary residence guidance consultation is expected to be published in the winter.