Clause 55 - Cross-border placements
Health and Social Care Bill
9:45 pm
Mr John Hutton (Minister of State, Department of Health; Barrow and Furness, Labour)
Clause 55 allows regulations to be made to enable local authorities in England and Wales to make and pay for residential care and nursing home placements in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man. Existing legislation does not allow them to do that. The amendment would ensure that the regulations were used to prevent local authorities from discriminating against someone on the grounds of place of birth or place of residence when they considered whether to make a cross-border placement.
I fully understand the hon. Gentleman's sentiments. We expect local authorities to make decisions strictly on the basis of whether someone needs to move to be near family and friends, not on where they were born or where they have lived or are living. Councils in England will still need to comply with legislation deriving from sections 21, 24 and 26 of the National Assistance Act 1948 on ordinary residence when considering whether to move care home residents from their areas to other areas. After consulting interested parties, we intend to issue guidance to local authorities explaining how to make decisions on cross-border placements. We do not need, therefore, to specify such conditions in regulations. We will be able to do that under the clause as it stands.