Minister outlines care plan

The government is calling on councils to do more to protect the dignity and respect of older people by driving poor quality care homes out of business.

Social care minister Ivan Lewis was set to say on Tuesday that public money should not be spent on homes which are not providing high quality care.

The news comes after a poll for the Guardian newspaper found that two-thirds of the adult population were "frightened" by the prospect of moving to a care home.

Lewis was to announce plans to publish a green paper on the funding of social care next year.

And he was pledging to introduce legislation to extend the provisions of the Human Rights Act, which does not currently apply to publicly-funded residents in private care homes.

"During consultations on a British bill of rights and responsibilities, we will consider how to put right this anomaly," he was to tell a Guardian conference on commissioning care for older people.

People paying for their own care already have "a transparent set of information as a basis for choosing where to go", he was to say, but he is calling on local authorities to use the star rating system to influence people's choices.

"If necessary we have to drive out of business those homes that do not provide a world class service," the minister says.

"We will be telling them: do more business with those homes that provide excellent care and dignity; and get tough with those that do not achieve excellence."