Written question WQ98720
- Asked by
- Iain McIntoshReform
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Minister for Health and Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 13 days
Question
Will the Cabinet Minister confirm the total amount spent during the 2025-26 financial year on a) out-of-county and b) out-of-country care placements for Welsh residents?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Minister for Health and Care (Mabon ap Gwynfor)
Information on the specific individual care publicly funded care or support packages and placements is not held centrally by the Welsh Government.
Local authorities and NHS Wales are responsible for assessing individual care needs and commissioning services accordingly. The cost of care packages varies significantly depending on the complexity of a person’s needs, including in a small number of cases where individuals require highly specialised or intensive support to meet significant and often life‑long needs.
Care provision spans a wide range of settings including domiciliary care, foster care, residential care, supported living arrangements and continuing healthcare. Costs are influenced by factors such as the type of care required, workforce inputs and local provider markets. These differences mean there is no single, comparable national dataset.
Welsh Government does collect and publish aggregate data on social care activity and expenditure. However, local authorities and health boards are not required to report individual care packages and so the information requested is not available in the format described.