§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will seek to establish a further education college for physically handicapped young people.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellSome physically handicapped young people already attend further education colleges. The numbers involved would not make a104W separate college practicable. But the current review of the needs of physically handicapped children in secondary education by the McCann Committee will provide the information on which further consideration can be given to the special needs of this group.
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of Stale for Scotland what estimate has been made of the total number of socially and mentally handicapped children in Scotland deemed to be in need of special educational facilities; and what research is being done on the problem.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellNo estimate is available because separate facilities are not provided for such a category. Successive attempts to estimate the number of maladjusted children of school age have failed to find any generally acceptable ways of measuring the incidence and I am not aware of any current research on this particular problem.
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many local authorities, either separately or jointly, have plans for the building of special schools for socially and mentally handicapped children; how many such schools now exist; and how many pupils attend them.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellEducation authorities have plans to build 20 new schools for mentally handicapped children and eight for maladjusted children. There are at present 188 special schools for the mentally handicapped and eight for the maladjusted: the total number of pupils attending these schools is approximately 10,000. Some of the children at both kinds of school will be from socially deprived backgrounds.
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland when the private school for handicapped children at Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire, was last inspected; what were the results of the inspection; which local authorities in Scotland have children at the school; and how many there are from each such authority.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe last inspection took place on 8th March, and 105W I am advised that standards are satisfactory but that fire precautions need to be improved. The other information asked for is as follows:
Number of Children Placed by Scottish Local Authorities in Monken Hadley School, Newton Stewart. Aberdeen … … … … 1 Edinburgh … … … … 4 Glasgow … … … … 14 East Lothian … … … … 1 Lanarkshire … … … … 3 Renfrewshire … … … 4 Stirling … … … … 1 West Lothian … … … … 1
§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list in the Official Report the names and addresses of all private fee-paying schools for socially or mentally handicapped children in Scotland, the number of pupils at each school, the fees paid by the local authorities sending children to such schools, and which of these institutions is registered as efficient.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe available information about the independent schools which make provision for mentally handicapped and other children is listed below. Social handicap is not a recognised category for special education. I do not seek to obtain information about the fees paid by local authorities sending children to these schools.
Name of School Pupil Places Aberdeenshire Linn Moor Home for Children, Peterculter (Registered) 40 The Camphill Rudolf Steiner Schools, Murtle House, Bieldside (Registered) 250 East Lothian Algrade Residential Occupational Training Centre, Children's Village, Humbie (Registered) 30 Fife Corsbie Hall School, Thornton, Fife (Provisionally Registered) 50 Peebles Garvald School, Dolphinton, West Linton (Registered) 45 Perth and Kinross Ochil Tower School, Auchterarder, Wigtownshire (Registered) 17 Wigtownshire Merton Hall School, Newton Stewart (Provisionally Registered) 20 Monken Hadley School, Corsbie, Newton Stewart Wigtownshire (Provisionally Registered) 30