HC Deb 28 January 1986 vol 90 cc786-7
10. Mr. Flannery

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services why publication of the McColl report on services received by patients at artificial limb and appliance centres was delayed.

Mr. Newton

It became necessary for the Department and the working party to consider the implications of legal advice about the terms of the report. As a result of that, the working party consequently decided to make some amendments to its report, none of which, however, affected any point of substance or any of the report's conclusions or recommendations.

Mr. Flannery

I believe that the report came out yesterday and I have not yet had an opportunity to read it. Can the Minister assure me that the points I have raised regularly with him about battery-powered wheelchairs are dealt with in the report? Many thousands of people, often elderly and chronically disabled, are not able to get out of their homes because they lack that facility. Can he assure me that a recommendation is contained in the report and that money will be forthcoming to buy battery-powered wheelchairs for the chronically disabled?

Mr. Newton

Because of the interest of the hon. Gentleman in this matter, I have already arranged for him to have a copy of the report. It contains recommendations about the provision of occupant-controlled outdoor wheelchairs. We shall certainly approach those recommendations in a positive spirit, though I must make it clear that the committee recognises the problem of resources, and, among other things, suggests that those resources should be found by curbing increases in the mobility allowance. I suspect that that is a proposition about which many Members, including myself, will have reservations.

Mr. Michael McNair-Wilson

Does my hon. Friend agree that Professor McColl's report underlines the inability of bureaucracy to meet people's needs efficiently and effectively? Could my hon. Friend expedite the recommendation for a new management board, and in particular could he see that it has a chairman with proper commercial experience?

Mr. Newton

I readily accept that the vigorous criticisms in the report demand an equally vigorous response from me and from the Department. I am confident there will be such a vigorous response.

Mr. Alfred Morris

The report is a profoundly important one for disabled people. One of its most crucial sentences is that action to put right the defects is already overdue. Since the cost of delay will be preventable pain and discomfort for amputees, how quickly will definitive action be taken? Will the NHS management board's findings be published, and if so, when can they be expected? What action will the Government take on what the report says about the late delivery of limbs to 53 per cent. of amputees, about seeing to it that surgeons who carry out amputations have experience of the problems, about excess profit-making and about ensuring that disabled people themselves are consulted at all stages?

Mr. Newton

We have already told the contractors that we shall wish to discuss future contracting arrangements in the light of the report. I have asked the NHS management board to report to me on management proposals and other matters by the middle of the year. Whether it would be appropriate to publish that advice, I shall wish to consider. The most important thing is to reach a stage of ministerial decision and necessary action, as I am sure the right hon. Gentleman would agree.