§ Mr. KINGasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will state the cubic space per individual which is regarded as the necessary minimum in 582W lunatic asylums, prisons, and other institutions under the inspection of the Home Office; whether regulations as to accommodation or recognised dormitories have been changed, relaxed, or suspended in such cases since the War began; and, if so, whether the alterations made are to be regarded as permanent or temporary?
§ Sir J. SIMONThe requirements as regards asylums are too lengthy to be given in the answer, but my hon. Friend will find them set out in paragraphs sixteen, seventeen and eighteen of the Instructions of the Lunacy Commission regarding the construction of asylums, of which I am sending him a copy. In prisons the requirement is 800 cubic feet for cells in which a prisoner both sleeps and works, and 600 cubic feet when the prisoner works outside. In reformatory and industrial schools the ordinary requirement is not less than 360 cubic feet for each child in the dormitories. Only in the case of asylums have any of these requirements been relaxed, and in the case of asylums the relaxations are purely temporary and are justified only by the need of providing accommodation for patients removed from other asylums which are being used as hospitals for wounded soldiers.
§ Mr. KINGasked whether any lunatic asylums carried on by public authorities or other institutions under the Lunacy Commissioners, have been authorised to take a larger number of inmates than before the outbreak of War; if so, whether any figures can be given as to the number of institutions and individuals so affected; and whether any reports from medical or other inspectors have been received as to the results, beneficial or otherwise, of the changes introduced?
§ Sir J. SIMONNine asylums have been entirely vacated and two partially vacated to provide hospital accommodation for wounded soldiers. Between 13,000 and 14,000 lunatic patients thus displaced have been accommodated in the remaining asylums, with the result that most of these asylums have at present a larger number of inmates than would be considered advisable by the Board of Control in normal times. The reports of the Commissioners who have visited the asylums in question speak with approval of the efforts made by the visiting committees to minimise the disadvantages of the arrangement, which is only justified by the exceptional circumstances of the present time.