Child Abuse

HC Deb 15 November 1989 vol 160 cc338-9W

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set up a programme to provide social workers with more resources to treat victims of child abuse.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Taken across the country as a whole, expenditure on personal social services by local authorities has increased by 37 per cent. in real terms since 1979–80. Local authority social services departments have an important part to play, alongside other agencies, in providing counselling and support services to victims of child abuse, and it is for them to decide what resources to devote to these services in the light of local circumstances and priorities. Through the training support programme (child care), the Department has this year made available an additional £7 million for training of social services staff working in child care, with an emphasis on child protection, including the treatment of child abuse; and that initiative is to continue next year. In addition, the Department is currently funding a project based at Great Ormand Street to provide in-depth training in the treatment of child sexual abuse.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce legislation to make it a statutory duty to report cases of suspected child abuse.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

No. As with all criminal offences there is a clear moral duty upon all citizens to report suspected child abuse. We have no evidence to suggest that, in general, people do not report child abuse when it comes to their attention.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will provide and make available to the public a register of voluntary groups who deal with child abuse sufferers and abusers.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

A comprehensive list of such organisations is not held centrally. However, we would expect such voluntary organisations to be members of the National Council for Voluntary Child Care Organisations or the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and to be known to local authority social services departments.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set up a programme to deal with the prevention of child abuse by training officials to recognise signs of abuse.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

It is the responsibility of the relevant employing agencies to determine the needs of their employees in relation to training. However, the Department has in hand a major programme of work which is designed to promote expertise and which stimulates and complements training by local authorities, the voluntary sector and other agencies. This programme includes the training support programme (child care) and the central child abuse training initiative, funded by the Department, which includes a range of projects. Recently completed projects include the Open university child abuse and neglect training pack and the Royal Society of Medicine video training pack for doctors about child sexual abuse.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will instigate a research project to establish how many facilities to help child abusers overcome their problem are available, with their location.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

I refer the hon. Member to my reply on 6 November at column451.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will set up a programme to target resources to social workers involved in child abuse cases.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

It is for individual local authorities to determine what resources to allocate to a particular service in the light of local needs and priorities. However, through the training support programme (child care) the Department has this year made available £7 million in support of total expenditure of £10 million for the training of local authority child care staff, with a particular emphasis on training in child protection.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether general practitioners are required to report suspected child abuse cases.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

The General Medical Council in November 1987 expressed the view that, if a doctor has reason for believing that a child is being physically or sexually abused, not only is it permissible for the doctor to disclose information to a third party but it is a duty for the doctor to do so. That view was published in the council's annual report for 1987 and reproduced in "Working Together" (1988) and in "Diagnosis of Child Sexual Abuse: Guidance for Doctors" (1988), both of which were published by the Department and are available in the Library.

Mrs. Dunwoody

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will conduct a research project on the number of emotionally abused children that have been reported in the last two years; and what type of help is provided for them.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Statistics on the number of children placed on child protection registers by reason of emotional abuse are available in "Survey of Children Placed on Child Protection Registers Year Ending 31 March 1988 England", copies of which are available in the Library. The Department has identified the need for research into the relationship between emotional abuse and neglect; and has included this issue in its strategy for possible research in 1990–91. There are a range of assessment, treatment and support services provided by local authority social services departments, health authorities and voluntary child care organisations available for abused children, including those who have been emotionally abused.