Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had with providers of residential care for people with physical impairments and learning difficulties on proposals for home closure.

Norman Lamb

The Department has not had any recent discussions with providers of residential care for people with physical impairments and learning difficulties on proposals for home closure.

The new Care Act, which will come into force in 2015, will give local authorities a core duty to promote their local market, with a particular focus on ensuring diversity, quality and sustainability which, importantly, will mean there should be sufficient high quality services available to meet the needs of individuals in their local area.

The Department has worked with stakeholders, including provider organisations, to develop draft statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act. The guidance will describe how local authorities must meet these new duties, including encouraging sustainability through appropriate fee levels. The draft guidance was published as part of a 10 week public consultation on the full package of regulations and guidance under part 1 of the Care Act on 6 June.

The Government believes that people who wish and who are able to live in their communities, rather than in an institutional care setting, should be given the support they need to do so.