asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What steps they have taken to inform independent care providers how and when they can apply for the recently announced £67 million capital grant to improve the care home environment for older people.

My Lords, we published a circular alerting interested parties to the availability of the grants, which has featured in press reports. Full details have been sent to council chief executives and directors of social services. Councils are responsible for publicising the grants to care home providers. Representative groups and care home associations have circulated details of the grants to their members.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I declare an interest as patron of a Royal British Legion home—Lister House, an excellent care home in Ripon in north Yorkshire—and, of course, as a Member of your Lordships’ House. Is the Minister aware that the local authority circular does not appear to have been disseminated to all local care providers? I know that four of the seven British Legion homes have not been told about the grant, yet the deadline for applications is 28 March. Does he feel that this timetable is still realistic?

My Lords, I accept that there is a problem if care homes have not received information. We have done everything we can to ensure that homes receive information, and I am happy to contact the British Legion to see whether we can resolve any of these issues. We want to ensure that all homes eligible for these grants are able to take advantage of them.

My Lords, will the budget cuts to CSCI and its probable merger with the Healthcare Commission affect progress in improving the care of vulnerable people, particularly elderly people, in care homes?

No, my Lords. The intention in bringing together CSCI, the Healthcare Commission and other regulatory bodies is to have a more efficient regulatory system. In so doing, we would expect the new regulator to focus on the things that are most important for the safety of the people living in such homes. We will make sure that that happens.

My Lords, how much of the £67 million budget has been spent so far, what has it been spent on, and how are the Government monitoring and promoting the availability of the scheme?

My Lords, we expect local authorities to do the job properly. We will keep an oversight to make sure that no disproportionate grants are being made and that none seems entirely out of the ordinary. In the main, however, we wish to trust local authorities to do an effective job in this area. The actual money will be allocated to local authorities in May 2007. Local authorities’ role at the moment is to contact the relevant homes and to invite them to make applications and go through the application process. We will then duly allocate the money to local authorities.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that Staffordshire County Council intends to shut all its council-run homes? Do the Government support this move?

My Lords, I am not aware of the case of Staffordshire. Clearly, these matters must be the concern of the local authority. The question is not so much whether there are local authority homes, or how many, as whether there are sufficient care home places in the county of Staffordshire to meet the needs of people living there. That has to be a matter for local decision.

My Lords, are the Government contemplating a similar grant for homes for disabled people, where there is a real difficulty in development? Most of the money at the moment is being found by the voluntary sector. I declare an interest as the president of John Grooms.

My Lords, this is very much a one-off grant for care homes, and it really depends whether a home for disabled people comes within the definition of a care home. I am afraid that I cannot really go any further than that.

My Lords, is my noble friend aware of the inspection arrangements being made to ensure that care homes provide a decent standard of care, in view of the recent reports of abuses in many homes, resulting in some closures? There are excellent homes, but there are also homes that fall far below what should be provided.

Indeed so, my Lords. In 2000, the Government issued statutory guidance entitled No Secrets to local authorities on developing policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. My noble friend is right to draw attention to a number of recent cases where residents have been abused and where decisive action has been taken. In March 2006, 79 per cent of the national minimum standards were met for older people. CSCI has the ability to take strong enforcement action against homes where issues causing great concern have arisen. It can issue requirement notices and statutory enforcement notices and can close homes, so tough statutory action can be taken in those cases.

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that, in the Joint Committee on Human Rights, we heard evidence last week that there was a great lacuna in the inspection process? If you are an elderly person who makes a complaint in a private nursing home, there is always the danger that it will then send you away from it. Unlike in local authority homes, there is no method in the private sector for any proper inspection and making sure that homes do not behave like that. We were all deeply shocked when we heard that.

My Lords, I too would express my dismay at any such case. I would be happy to take away any recommendations that the committee has and any evidence given to it. The statutory inspection regime covers private homes, of course, and ought to be able to deal with those issues. However, I will investigate what is clearly a very serious allegation.

My Lords, much has been made of the Government’s desire to improve the environment of care homes, and rightly so. However, in the light of recent abuse and neglect cases, raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden, how rapidly does the Minister believe that we can move towards meaningful compulsory training for all care staff that leads to qualification?

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises an important question. She will know that the Government are considering the whole question of the regulation of workers in the care sector. We have emphasised a need to focus on domiciliary care workers. I cannot give definitive date lines for all care workers, but I assure her that we regard the training of staff and professional regulation in a sector that deals with many vulnerable people as clearly of great importance.

My Lords—

My Lords, we ought to move on. We are well into the 23rd minute now.