Social Services

Mr. Lansley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each local authority area were in receipt of the social care personal expenses allowance in each of the last five financial years for which figures are available.

Phil Hope
The information requested is not collected centrally.

Care home residents who are supported by local authorities contribute most of their income to pay for the cost of their care, but to ensure they have money to spend on personal items, they are guaranteed a weekly personal expenses allowance (PEA). The PEA is not a benefit paid to residents, but the minimum amount of their own money they must be left with, after their contribution to the cost of their care has been deducted from their income. All care home residents who are supported by local authorities in residential accommodation under section 21 of the National Assistance Act 1948 will, therefore, receive at least the PEA each week.

The following table shows the total number of people aged 18 or over receiving funding from their local authority to pay for their residential home placement as at 31 March each year.

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|                |Rounded number|
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|2003            |284,135       |
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|2004            |277,950       |
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|2005            |267,240       |
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|2006            |256,950       |
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|2007            |247,285       |
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|Source:SRI form.|              |
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