HC Deb 26 April 1993 vol 223 cc272-3W
Mr. David Atkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on her Department's forthcoming survey on mental health.

Mr. Yeo

The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys is carrying out the first national survey to assess the extent of psychiatric morbidity in Great Britain. The survey, due to be completed in 1995, will provide information on the nature and extent of psychiatric illnesses among adults and will enquire into any associated social disabilities; the variation in the use of health, social and voluntary care services; and the risk factors associated with mental illness. The survey information will form a baseline against which changes in the health and social functioning of people with a mental illness can be measured, thus providing a means of assessing progress towards achieving the targets set out in our White Paper, "The Health of the Nation" (Cm 1986).

Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 5 February,Official Report, column 377–78, if she will give details of the ethnic origin of those detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 during each year from 1984 to 1986 in the North West Thames, North East Thames, South East Thames and South West Thames areas; what assessment she has made of the extent of and the reasons for the discrepancy between such detentions in those areas compared with other regions; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Yeo

This information is not available centrally.