Southern Cross Care Homes Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Anne Begg
Main Page: Anne Begg (Labour - Aberdeen South)Department Debates - View all Anne Begg's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(13 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Paul Burstow
My hon. Friend tempts me to comment on an individual local authority’s decisions, the details of which I do not have. It seems to me that that is an area that the council in question will have to look at carefully. The key thing has to be that local authorities are responsible for looking at the availability of good- quality care home placements in their area and to supply individuals who are funded by the local authority and who need a decent care home with just that.
Dame Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)
I have nine Southern Cross homes in my constituency, and they are sitting on some very expensive real estate. The problem for Southern Cross was that its rents were too high. What negotiations has the Minister undertaken with the landlords to ensure that that problem does not continue and beset the new operators who we hope will take over the running of those facilities?
Paul Burstow
I do not know the particulars of the homes to which the hon. Lady refers, but if she would like to write to me with more details, I will certainly look at that matter. Many of the homes that Southern Cross owns have been specifically built and designed to provide residential care for older people, and there is therefore no other purpose for which they could usefully be converted—[Interruption.] Opposition Members might chunter about that, but that is why a consensual, solvent restructuring is now the best and most likely outcome of the process.