Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the cost effectiveness of local authorities developing and running social care residential homes to meet the urgent needs of the elderly population.

High-quality, personalised care and support can only be achieved where there is a vibrant, responsive market of service providers. There has been an effective market operating in adult social care for over 20 years. The independent and charitable sector has proved successful in meeting increased demand for high quality services.

The Government continues to monitor the capacity of the social care system and bed capacity has remained broadly stable - 460,664 beds in 2010 to 459,874 now.

The Government does not advise local authorities or private companies on how to set up or operate care homes. The Care Act 2014 placed duties on local authorities making them responsible for ensuring there is an effective pool of quality providers of social care in their area with capacity to meet the needs of their local population. It is for local authorities to determine the most cost effective way of meeting the care needs of their local population.

Should a care home close, local authorities have duties to step in temporarily and ensure that all people affected in its area continue to have their needs met and their care is not interrupted.

The Department has worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Local Government Association, the care sector and other partners to produce a wide range of guidance and support about market shaping and commissioning. We have brought this together in an online hub called Adult Social Care Market Shaping, which is an online only resource widely available to people and organisations including local authorities, service users, and care providers.