§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much expenditure has been set aside by the Government and local authorities respectively, for the partial implementation of the Children Act for 1976–77 in England.
§ Mr. Moyle,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 25th October 1976; Vol. 918, c. 66], gave the following information:
As my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Wales has explained in his reply to the hon. Gentleman on 25th October—[Vol. 918, c. 91–2]—the estimated expenditure by local authorities in England and Wales on personal social services accepted by the Government in determining the total of rate support grant included £100,000 for the partial implementation of the Children Act, 1975. The General Register Office has set aside £18,000 to provide a counselling service for adopted people and £11,000 to operate the provisions relating to the registration 409W of abandoned and illegitimate children, The extra costs falling on the legal aid fund for the separate representation of parents and children in the courts in the current financial year are expected to be negligible.