§ Q3. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Prime Minister if he will recommend the establishment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the educational, health and other problems of mentally handicapped and socially disturbed children.
§ The Prime MinisterNo, Sir. The Government are already taking action to improve the relevant services, and additional expenditure has been allocated for the purpose over the next four years. I do not see the need for any further inquiry.
§ Mr. HamiltonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that because this problem tends to be swept under the carpet by far too many local and health authorities, it should be enumerated and measured as quickly as possible? Is he aware that there is apparently no machinery for doing this and that a lot of this work is left to private enterprise, as I pointed out earlier in Question No.8 to the Secretary of State for Education and Science? May 1895 we have an assurance that sufficient money will be available to enable authorities to tackle the problem and that it will not be left to private fee-paying schools?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman no doubt knows that responsibility for mentally handicapped children will be transferred from health to education authorities on 1st April under the rearrangement of the machinery of government which I made last autumn. As for resources, it has been announced that an additional £110 million will be spent over the next four years on the health and welfare services, and part of that will go—
§ Mr. HamiltonHow much of it?
§ The Prime MinisterI cannot give the exact details off the cuff. If the hon. Member cares to table a Question to my right hon. Friend, I am sure that he will be given the specific details. Part of the money will be spent on the children about whom the hon. Gentleman is rightly concerned.
§ Mr. DeedesIs my right hon. Friend aware that the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. William Hamilton) has a point when he says that we have not sufficiently quantified this problem? While there are always objections to the establishment of a Royal Commission, is he aware that, in the view of some of us, there is urgent need to discover the area and extent of what to many people is an increasingly disturbing social problem?
§ The Prime MinisterI will certainly consider the particular point raised by my right hon. Friend on the need for further knowledge of the exact numbers involved. As far as organisations are concerned, we possess the necessary information. We have had the Seebohm Report and action taken about this both at the centre and in local government, as well as the Report which has been made on "Living with Handicap", which is concerned with methods of looking after these children. If it is a question of quantification, then I am prepared to look at the matter to see what further can be done.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisWill the right hon. Gentleman raise with his right hon. Friend the now urgent need to provide 1896 for the special educational requirements of deaf and blind autistic and dyslectic children as envisaged in the new legislation?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. My right hon. Friend will make a further detailed statement of policy this spring about services for the mentally-handicapped, and I will ask him to make a point of dealing with this particular problem.