§ 21. Mr. Hannanasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has considered the Report of the Scottish Advisory Council on Child Care concerning the rôle of voluntary homes; and if he will take the necessary legislative and administrative action to give effect to the Council's recommendations for raising the standards of care, accommodation, equipment, quantity and quality of staff to those of the local authorities.
§ Mr. MaclayYes, Sir. The Report did not recommend legislative action, but I have substantially increased the total grant available for raising the general standards of the homes. Local authorities have also agreed to increase their maintenance payments for the children for whom they are responsible.
§ Mr. HannanCan the right hon. Gentleman let us into the secret as to who published and printed this Report? It is published in rather a tawdry fashion. I should like the right hon. Gentleman to answer this question. In view of the value of the Report, because it is an excellent one, will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to publish it as a Command Paper? Will he, further, consider this, that the Report points out that many of these voluntary homes have no case work at all at the children's homes, and since this is a very important matter will he give some urgency to its consideration?
§ Mr. MaclayI will certainly consider everything the hon. Member has said in his supplementary question. I quite agree that the Report is a very valuable document, but I should not like to commit myself to publishing it in any 414 other form, because opinions and tastes differ as to what is the ideal form of such publications.