Mr. Patrick Jenkin askedthe Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a study of the Swedish system of residential care, known as Fokus, for the severely handicapped.
§ Mr. EnnalsOfficials of my Department visited Sweden in October 1975 in order to study the whole range of care for disabled people. Although they found it very useful to study the Fokus scheme, they expressed some reservations, which I share, about whether it is the most effective means of deploying scarce resources. The Department of the Environment and my Department have initiated a series of projects, now being carried out by a number of local authorities, to determine what is required in the way of housing and support services for severely handicapped people who wish to live in the community. The results of these experiments, together with the lessons learnt from the Swedish524W system, should enable us to determine the best way in which to provide help for this group.