§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the number of abandoned, or rarely visited, children in hospitals; what advice he has now given to hospital and local authorities on this matter; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AlisonSurveys by my Department in 1969 and 1970 suggest that the number of children at present in hospital who have not been visited by relatives for three months or more is about 2,000; a number will receive regular visits from voluntary and local authority workers. The circular to which my right hon. Friend referred in his reply to the hon. Member on 22nd December, 1971, has now been published and I am sending a copy of it to him.—[Vol. 828, c.389–90.]