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Baroness Masham of Ilton: My Lords, how many of those places are for children? If the Minister visits a young offenders institution, as I do, he will see many 15 and 16 year-olds. They would be much better in a young persons' residential setting with drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The problem with alcohol is probably just as bad, if not worse, particularly among girls.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I do not have specific information on the number of places for young people, although I shall certainly follow that up with the noble Baroness. The concern in this debate has been about whether the national minimum standards will cause real problems for the organisations that provide those places. It is important to remember that at the heart of the Care Homes Act and the national minimum standards is a desire to ensure good quality provision. It is within that context that I pick up the issues raised by the noble Baroness.
The noble Lord, Lord Taverne, thinks that this country is over-regulated and extremely bureaucratic. I am responsible for what is described as better regulation within the Department of Health. I must make two points to the noble Lord. First, although he has expressed concerns about over-regulation, the parliamentary process usually leads to governments being called upon to regulate almost every sector of life in this country. It is very rare that noble Lords ask me to relax regulation. One has to recognise the context in which regulation takes place. The overwhelming pressure on the Government is to regulate.
The interesting point about care homes is that much of the original pressure to pull together the regulation from local authorities into a national system came from the care sector because of concerns about inconsistency throughout the country. I well remember meeting proprietors who had a number of homes in different parts of the country and who were finding it very difficult to relate to individual local authorities, which were inconsistent in their demands.
In general terms, there has been broad support for a national system of regulation but it needs to be proportionate, sensitive and practical. The purpose of the consultation process has been to try to ensure that the standards eventually agreed to were practical and that the care sector as a whole would be able to implement them. I accept that the modifications for the homes that the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, was particularly concerned about took place at a late stage, but at all times during the process of developing regulations and national minimum standards we have attempted to listen carefully to views within the sector to ensure that the standards eventually agreed to were capable of realisation.
I do not need to go into the details set out in those standards. It is clear from the comments made by noble Lords that they and those in the care sector accept that the main points raised have now been dealt with.
However, I ought to deal with one or two other issues, which are apposite to the practicality of the implementation of the standards. I shall focus in particular on funding. I understand the concerns on
that subject. In general, we have assured, particularly in the recent announcement, that social services authorities as a whole will receive extra funding. I hope that some of that will be made available to the providers of care homes and that within that care homes that deal with drug and alcohol misuse will receive their fair share.We have encouraged the development of an agreement, which was announced last autumn, between the Government, independent care providers and local authorities to ensure that there is a common understanding as to how funding is to be provided in the future and the principles on which that funding should be provided. I strongly endorse the hope that local authorities will enter into tailor-made contracts that take account of specific local circumstances and ensure that there is a consistent approach and that care homes are fully aware of the likely funding stream that will come to them over a sufficiently lengthy period.
On the more general issue of care home viability, the Government have commissioned the University of Kent to conduct a review of information on the supply side of the industry in terms of costs, fees, profitability and number of closures. We hope to publish that fairly shortly. I am sure that it will be very useful in informing the sector and the Government on the more general funding issues and the viability of the sector as a whole. That applies as much to voluntary organisations as it does to profit-making organisations in the sector.
Various noble Lords, but particularly my noble friend Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, mentioned the work of the European Association for the Treatment of Addiction. I very much pay tribute to its work and its assiduity in expressing concerns about the draft regulations. My noble friend Lord Brooke also asked me about alcohol. We are committed to producing a national strategy to tackle alcohol misuse, and we shall be implementing that strategy by 2004. The strategy's aim will be to influence drinking behaviour by improving understanding of the harmful impact of alcohol misuse. We shall be promoting early interventions for those who are experiencing alcohol problems, and we shall also address the issue of more intensive treatment for those who need it.
This has been a short but extremely interesting debate, and I very much welcome the constructive comments of all noble Lords. I believe that the Government's strategy on drug misuse is beginning to pay dividends. I particularly commend the work within our Prison Service.
I believe that, with the more sensitive approach that we have taken on residential care standards for homes that play such an enormously helpful role in relation to people suffering from drug problems, this is a consistent and effective package. However, we cannot be complacent about the issue; we have to redouble our efforts. We also have to ensure that resources are available. Nevertheless, I believe that this debate has been very encouraging and suggests that we are on the right lines.
- House adjourned at three minutes past eleven o'clock.
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