HC Deb 13 February 1967 vol 741 cc93-4
34. Mr. Moonman

asked the Minister of Health if he will institute an inquiry into the best means of obtaining information on the mental health service.

Mr. K. Robinson

No, Sir. A great deal of information is collected and published about the mental health service by means which I consider to be satisfactory.

Mr. Moonman

Is the Minister aware that there is deeply felt concern in my constituency and throughout the country at the lack of quantitative and qualitative information? How can the Minister possibly hope to explain how the service can be improved if he does not have what I regard as basic information?

Mr. Robinson

My Ministry has just installed a computer at Fleetwood which, among other things, will be used for processing mental health statistics. We hope that eventually this will speed up the preparation of statistics and also make possible other detailed tabulations, for example, by local authority areas, which we are unable to do at present.