§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he has yet brought to the notice of local authorities the advantages which chemical closets have over commodes when used by handicapped people living alone or with frail spouses;
178W(2) if he has yet made funds available to the Royal College of Art for trials of prototype chemical closets for use by disabled persons;
(3) if he will place in the Library the combined report of his officials and the Royal College of Art on chemical closets which can be used by disabled people;
(4) if he will make available for inspection by hon. Members all chemical closets for the use of disabled persons which have been produced as a result of publicly financed work by the Royal College of Art, so that comparison can be made with existing models in general use;
(5) how much has been spent to date by his Department on research and development connected with advanced technology chemical closets for use by handicapped persons.
§ Sir K. JosephMy Department has recently written to local authorities enclosing a summary of the joint report on the use of commercial chemical closets for handicapped people, and I am sending a copy to the hon. Member. I have placed a copy of the report itself in the Library.
My Department has approved a total of £65,988 for research and development in respect of chemical closets generally, of which £32,926 has so far been spent, largely on evaluating commercial closets. Of the balance of £32,062, £17,212 is required to develop the Royal College of Art's closet to prototype stage and, subject to satisfactory completion to that point, £14,850 to enable trials to be carried out.
The college has not completed development of a chemical closet, but when that stage is reached it will be open to hon. Members to inspect a prototype.