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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their experience with the collapse of Southern Cross, what contingency plans they have in the event of a significant withdrawal of large and medium-sized providers of residential and nursing home care from the provision of publicly-funded social care.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is unacceptable for vulnerable people who need care and support to have their services interrupted if their provider fails financially.

The Care Act 2014 placed duties on local authorities to step in and ensure people’s needs continue to be met if their provider fails financially and their services cease. These duties apply to all people receiving care services, regardless of who pays for them, and there are reciprocal arrangements in all countries of the United Kingdom. The Government has supported local authorities with this duty and recently published guidance for local authorities to assist them in developing contingency plans for managing provider failure. This guidance was co-produced with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government information Unit.

The Care Act also established the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with a new function to oversee the finances of the largest and most difficult to replace providers. This oversight function would provide early warning to relevant local authorities in the event that one of the providers in the CQC scheme was likely to fail financially and their services cease. This would allow local authorities time to implement contingency plans. This CQC Market Oversight scheme is now fully functional.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the additional national insurance contributions that will be made in the first year of the introduction of the National Living Wage; and what assessment they have made of whether that source of revenue could be used to fund the extra cost of publicly-funded social care.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

As set out in Table B.3 in of their July 2015 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility estimate that, by 2020-21, the National Living Wage will increase income tax and NICs receipts by around £0.1bn. They assume that, by 2020-21, the overall impact of the policy on the public finances is to reduce public sector net borrowing by £0.2bn.

The Chancellor will set out full plans for public expenditure at the Spending Review on 25th November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the impact of the National Living Wage on registered care providers, both domiciliary and residential, in the first year of the National Living Wage’s introduction; and whether they will classify the National Living Wage as a new burden on local authorities for which they should receive grant increases to pay care providers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department has engaged with the social care sector, including care providers, to understand how the introduction of the National Living Wage will affect them. The overall costs to local authorities of providing social care are being considered as part of the Spending Review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they hold on the occupancy levels of registered care homes in the last five years for which information is available.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The information requested is not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the real-term expenditure on local authority-brokered social care in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Based on existing data, the last five years of adult social care spend (including transfers from the National Health Service) in real terms (2014-15 prices) are as follows:

2010-11 £17.19 billion

2011-12 £16.35 billion

2012-13 £15.89 billion

2013-14 £15.72 billion

2014-15 £15.51 billion

This information is based upon Department for Communities and Local Government budget data.

The real terms figures (2014-15 prices) for gross spend on children and young people’s services (including capital expenditure from revenue), calculated from the Department for Education section 251 data returns, are:

2010-11 £9.92 billion

2011-12 £9.12 billion

2012-13 £9.20 billion

2013-14 £9.12 billion

2014-15 data will be available later in this financial year.