§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Prime Minister, pursuant to her reply about the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act to the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Lloyd) on 13 December, Official Report, column 1204, if she will publish in the Official Report her letter on this matter to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe, dated 23 January.
§ The Prime MinisterYes. The letter is as follows
Thank you for your letter of 27 December about the reply I gave to Tony Lloyd in the House on 13 December about the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act. I am grateful for this opportunity to clarify the position.Where a local authority is satisfied of an individual disabled person's need for one of the services listed in Section 2 of the Act, it has a duty to make arrangements to meet that need. In that sense this part of the Act is certainly mandatory. However, it is for the local authority itself to assess need and to detemine how it should best be met. To that extent there is also an element of discretion.You can rest assured that it was not my intention in any way to question the statutory duties imposed by the Act on local authorities, nor to indicate any change in the advice given to successive Ministers for the Disabled on this point. I am sorry if the wording of my reply suggested otherwise.