§ Dr. BrandTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the terms of reference are for the evaluation being conducted for his Department of residential and village community provision for people with a mental handicap; who is conducting the study; how much it will cost if the work was put out to tender; and when the main findings are expected. [20411]
§ Mr. BoatengThe evaluation consists of two phases. The first phase was in two parts. First, a review of literature on residential provision for people with learning disabilities. The terms of reference were
to assess the state of knowledge about effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different forms of residential accommodation for people with learning disabilities".Secondly, an analysis of available information on the costs of village communities. The terms of reference wereto analyse and compare any information which is readily available on the financial costs of village communities and other forms of residential provision for people with learning disabilities".Professor Eric Emerson of Hester Adrian Research Centre, University of Manchester, successfully competed for the contract for the first phase of the research which cost £26,471. The results of the first phase were published in July 1996 and distributed to social services departments and chief executives of health authorities.
The second phase consists of two related parts. The first will look at a sample of 300 people with learning disabilities living in residential or village communities, and 300 people with learning disabilities living in small scale community-based residential services. In the second part, more detailed information will be collected on two smaller matched sub-samples of people with profound multiple learning disabilities living in residential or village communities, and small scale community-based residential services.
Analyses of the data will focus upon: (1) describing and comparing the characteristics of the people served, the types of services received, the costs of services received and the outcomes associated with the two approaches to residential provision; and (2) examining the inter-relationships between the characteristics of the people served, the types of services received, the costs of services received and the resulting outcomes within and across the two types of provision.
To avoid any undue delay in the start of the second phase of the research, and because he successfully completed the first phase, Professor Eric Emerson of the Hester Adrian Research Centre, University of Manchester, was approached on a single tender basis to take the second phase forward. Professor Martin Knapp of the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the London School of Economics is undertaking the economic aspects of the research.
The study was commissioned in December 1996 at a cost to the Department of £274,464. Main findings from the study are expected in December 1998.