§ 44. Mr. Brooksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of children aged below 10 years who have been assessed as ineducable in each of the last five years in each of the boroughs and urban districts 1622 of Wirral; and what were the numbers of these children still living at home at the last convenient date.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Social Security (Mr. Norman Pentland)I will, with permission, circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT the figures of children unsuitable for education at school.
The numbers of these children still living at home are not available.
§ Mr. BrooksWill not the Under-Secretary agree that the vast majority of children are educable but at widely differing rates of progress, and is not it important, in view of the impending reorganisation of departmental responsibility, that every effort should be made to avoid the institutional or domestic isolation of slow learners?
§ Mr. PentlandI agree, and if my hon. Friend, once he has examined the figures, wishes to follow this matter up, I shall be prepared for a further Question from him.
§ Following are the figures:
| Birkenhead County Borough | |
| 1964 | 6 |
| 1965 | 7 |
| 1966 | 10 |
| 1967 | 13 |
| 1968 | 14 |
| Wallasey County Borough | |
| 1964 | 3 |
| 1965 | 8 |
| 1966 | 6 |
| 1967 | 8 |
| 1968 | 6 |
| Cheshire County Council | |
| 1964 | 12 |
| 1965 | 12 |
| 1966 | 14 |
| 1967 | 19 |
| 1968 | 15 |