Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
The Department also commented that adult social care is another important example of the links...
Recommendation
The Department also commented that adult social care is another important example of the links and benefits that come from investing in housing, and that it is conducting research to quantify these savings.41 We asked the Department whether the 2021 programme was suitably aligned with wider government decisions on adult social care. The Department told us that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is now much more involved in the Programme. It is considering how it can work more effectively with the DHSC, for example through DHSC’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund. The Department recognised there are challenges over aligning on-going funding for care support services, and that it needs to further its understanding over how to deliver supported homes in London.42 The developer, McCarthy Stone, welcomed the announcement of the older people’s housing taskforce in the Levelling Up White Paper and would like to see 30,000 new specialist homes a year.43
Government Response Summary
The government will collect evidence through resident surveys as part of the 2021 programme evaluation to understand the impacts of increasing affordable housing supply on areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation, with first surveys in 2024 and repeating until 2029.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4. PAC conclusion: The Department does not quantify potential savings in some areas, such as temporary accommodation, into the Programme. 4. PAC recommendation: Before the next iteration of the Programme, the Department should quantify the wider savings it could make to areas such as adult social care and temporary accommodation. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2024 4.2 The government understands that there are wider outcomes and positive impacts that flow from increasing the supply of affordable housing. The evaluation for the 2021 programme will collect evidence through resident surveys to help the department understand many of these, including impacts for adult social care and temporary accommodation. The government’s published scoping study details a proposed methodology for how it intends to undertake the evaluation. It is anticipated that the first round of resident surveys will take place in 2024 and these surveys will repeat until 2029.