Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of variations in access to appropriate social care provision to enable independent living on the (a) availability and (b) capacity of supported accommodation.

Our white paper People at the Heart of Care sets out our ambition to ensure people have the choice and control to remain independent in the community. We recognise that supported housing can be the best model of care for some people, leading to better health, greater independence, and closer connection with the community.

The forthcoming provisions of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 will strengthen the data on the availability and capacity of supported accommodation. The act places a new duty on local housing authorities to review the supported housing in each district, and to forecast future need. The Government will consult on the implementation of the new duties and other supported housing reforms in due course.