Ms Laverne McGuinness:

With regard to home help, there was a reduction in outturn in 2012. The Minister gave a commitment and we have put in our service plan a commitment to reach the full target of home help hours in 2012, which was 10.3 million hours. The same is in place for the service plan for 2013. There is a full commitment to the restoration of budget in that regard. That is there and in place.

I will explain what happens with home help hours. People's cases are reviewed; one cannot say that the same person will receive home help hours continuously or on an ongoing basis. Some people only need the service for a period. For example, a person might be at home or in hospital for a period and might need the service for six months or three months. There is a continuous process of review. Some people might need more hours. One cannot say that one will give the hours to the same people for the same period on an ongoing basis. We can emphatically say that the same number of hours and the same budget have been committed to in 2013 as were provided for, in full, in 2012.