§ 60. Mr. BRIANTasked the Minister of Health if his attention has been called 1608 to the case of a lad of 17, who is mentally deficient and was charged at Stratford, East, police court with an assault on a child of five; if he is aware that the same lad was charged with a similar offence on a previous occasion but, owing to the failure to find a suitable home, was discharged; and if he will see that sufficient homes are provided for these cases, so that deficients who are a danger to children shall not be allowed to repeat their offences?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. In regard to the latter part of the question, I have already informed the Board of Control that they should press local authorities to fulfil their duty under the Mental Deficiency Act of providing suitable and sufficient accommodation for mental defectives ordered to be sent to institutions. As regards the particular case, the Board of Control have agreed, in the exceptional circumstances, that if the Court orders this youth to be sent to an institution, he can be received into the State institution at Rampton, which has been provided for mental defectives of dangerous or violent propensities.