She must make a decision at the beginning of March, if structures are to be in place by Easter: paralysis on the agreement's first anniversary would look bad.
But he rejected the suggestion that the care homes were struggling because of the business decision to lease all their homes from landlords, arguing that lease structures provide better stability than bank lending.
It was designed to ensure structures could be established quickly to support policing and justice powers once a decision to transfer them had been taken, he said.
Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg has also criticised the government's decision to end the target of pupils doing two hours of sport a week, saying support structures needed to be place "at the grassroots" to "inspire the next generation".