§ Major GLYNasked the Minister of Health how far negotiations have gone with the appropriate authorities for the accommodation and maintenance of mentally deficient persons and lunatics in cottage homes in rural areas,; and will he give an assurance that nothing of this kind will be done until an opportunity has been given for a discussion in this House?
§ Mr. GREENWOODLocal authorities already have power to board out mental defectives and persons of unsound mind. Mental defectives have been boarded out with their guardians since the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, came into operation, and no change of practice as regards defectives is contemplated. The boarding-out by visiting committees of persons of unsound mind is provided for under Section 57 of the Lunacy Act, 1890. For various reasons it has not been possible to make much use of this provision; and the only question under consideration is whether greater use could be made of the existing powers, in view of the experience of the system in Scotland and in France.