INQUESTS will be held into deaths in care homes in Gwent which were investigated after abuse of elderly people was alleged to have taken place.

The First Minister Carwyn Jones was responding to a series of recommendations from a report into the allegations of neglect and abuse following the deaths.

The report was commissioned after the collapse of Operation Jasmine, an investigation which lasted seven years, involved 75 police officers, and cost an estimated £15million.

Speaking in the Senedd, he said the coroner for Gwent, David T Bowen, had said that where he has jurisdiction inquests will be held; that Operation Jasmine had previously been referred to the Special Crime Division (SCD) and there was “no need to refer the matter again”; and that families would not be presented by Gwent Police with evidence prepared by the expert panel as “‘disclosing this information at this stage may be prejudicial to the coroner’s inquests”.

The review, which was carried out by care expert Dr Margaret Flynn and was commissioned by the First Minister after the prosecution was dropped.

It focused on six care homes – Bryngwyn Mountleigh in Newbridge, Brithdir Care Home in Bargoed, The Beeches in Blaenavon, Belmont in Caerphilly, Grosvenor Care Home in Abertillery and Bankhouse in Ebbw Vale.

Care home owner Dr Prana Das, Puretruce Health Care Ltd, of which he was a director, and the company’s chief executive Paul Black, were charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and Mr Das was also charged under the Theft Act.

But the case was dropped against both men after Dr Das sustained severe head injuries in an attack during a burglary at his home, and he was ruled too ill to stand trial.

Recommendations from the review included better regulation of the residential and nursing care home sector, that inquests should be held into four of the care home deaths despite their having been registered with the coroner, that the Director of Public Prosecutions refers the Operation Jasmine Investigation to the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, and that Gwent Police provides the families of older people in the six homes included in Operation Jasmine with the information prepared by members of the expert panel and ensures that they are supported during and after this process.

In response to calls for better regulation of the residential and nursing care homes sector, Mr Jones said: “The Welsh Government agrees with Dr Flynn that the social care sector is of primary national significance.

“Our Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Bill sets out new powers for Welsh ministers to shape the market in the way that Dr Flynn describes. The minister for health and social services is also currently researching how issues such as pay and conditions impact on the quality of services in the sector.”