§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement about current provisions for the welfare of handicapped children.
§ Mrs. CurrieGovernment policy has been increasingly directed towards improving support for handicapped children and their families to enable them to remain at home or, if that is not possible, in small homely units in or near to the local community.
We have asked health authorities to ensure that by the end of 1988 no mentally handicapped child receiving long-term care should be required to live in a large mental handicap hospital. Additional central funding (£11.5 million) has been made available for this purpose and progress so far has been good. We have continued to encourage the development of joint planning of health and personal social services by the statutory agencies and voluntary bodies.
Local authorities have a duty under the provisions of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 to 695W inform themselves of the needs of disabled children ordinarily resident in their area and to meet those needs. The Education Act 1981 placed a duty on local education authorities to identify children with special educational needs and learning difficulties. Sections 5 and 6 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986, when implemented, will require social services departments to assess the needs of young disabled people leaving school.