§ 19 and 20. Mr. DAVID GRENFELLasked the Minister of Health (1) if he is aware that in the report of the Board of Control for the year 1931 it is estimated that the cost of each inmate of a mental hospital amounts to £500 per annum, or a total for the country of £70,000,000 per annum; and will he consider, in the interests of economy, accommodating inmates, for whom detention cannot be proved to be necessary, in hostels run on a hospital footing under the control and inspection of the Ministry itself;
(2) what proportion of the £70,000,000 which is estimated by the Board of Control to be spent on the detention of 140,000 inmates is borne by local authorities and how much is derived from Government grants to asylums and asylum annexes?
Sir H. YOUNGI think that these questions are based on a misunderstanding of the report of the Board of Control for 1931, which appears in a pamphlet on the Mental Treatment Act recently circulated to Members. It will be seen by reference to the report itself (page 85) that the figure of £500 is not a figure of annual cost but is the Board's estimate of the capital cost of providing a bed in a mental hospital. The annual cost of upkeep of the public mental hospitals and maintenance, supervision and treatment of patients was not 70 millions in 1931, but was approximately eight millions, which was defrayed from rate funds. In 1932 this figure was slightly reduced though the number of patients under care increased by about 1,900. The alternative method suggested is, I fear, impracticable. The preventive treatment of such 923 cases needs resources of staff and equipment unobtainable in hostels, under whatever central system of control they may be placed.