§ 88 and 131. Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will improve the methods of advising local authorities of the technical means by which handicapped persons' communication and environmental problems can be overcome by local authorities; if he will consider holding a symposium on this subject for the appropriate departments of local authorities; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what records his Department keeps of specific individual communication and environmental problems solved for the physically handicapped by various social services departments and local authorities; how such information is stored and 441W distributed to the appropriate departments; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerUseful information is at present collected and published in a variety of ways by a large number of agencies, including Government Departments; but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services and I doubt that it would be practicable to set up a central depository of information about all facilities for the physically handicapped. This would need the co-operation of a very wide range of statutory and voluntary bodies and manufacturers, and would require an organisation to collect, process and evaluate information and to publish reports, which is beyond the present resources of Government Departments. My Department is, however, engaged on a study to establish how far the housing needs of the disabled can best be met; and is examining, with the Central Council for the Disabled, the possibility of publishing a booklet reviewing outstanding local authority schemes to provide access for the disabled to council premises.