HC Deb 13 November 1973 vol 864 cc101-4W
53. Mr. Mayhew

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many local authority projects for providing

Number of Projects Not found a Place
Type of Project Schemes Places Schemes Places
Residential Homes for Mentally Handicapped 482 9,771 273 5,718
Residential Homes for the Mentally Ill … 168 2,562 23 394
Adult Training Centres … … … … 216 16,269 92 6,493
Day Centers for the Mentally Ill* … … 81 3,234 22 790
* Seventeen of the schemes proposed were for mixed day centres for the mentally ill and those suffering from other handicaps. Of these seven did not find a place in the list. The numbers of places shown are for the mentally ill only.

Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consideration he has given to the report of the recent Mind survey into Community Care Provisions for Mentally Ill and Mentally Handicapped Men and Women, a copy of which has been sent to him; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Mayhew

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he is taking in the light of the report of the recent Mind survey into Community Care Provisions for Mentally Ill and Mentally Handicapped Men and Women, a copy of which has been sent to him; and if he will make a statement.

Sir K. Joseph

The report gives a valuable account of the existing state of

residential training and day places for the mentally ill and handicapped he has deferred during the past 12 months.

Sir K. Joseph

Proposals by authorities for the three-year period 1973–76 and numbers of projects which did not find a place in the list of projects for which I hope to be able to approve loan sanction in these years are set out below.

The social services building programme is now under review to give effect to the spreading forward of construction industry contracts announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 8th October. As I told the hon. Lady the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Mrs. Doris Fisher) on 7th November—[Vol. 863, c. 192.]—a small further deferment of projects must follow directly from this measure.

I regret that the figure I gave in my reply to the hon. Member for Rochdale (Mr. Cyril Smith) on 6th November—[Vol. 863, c. 151–2]—related in error to projects submitted by local authorities and not to the numbers included in the list of projects for which I hope to be able to approve loan sanction. I have written to the hon. Member about this.

community care provision for the mentally ill and mentally handicapped.

I fully acknowledge the seriousness of the situation described in the report in which some authorities still have little or no residential or day care provision for the mentally ill. The programmes of capital projects in the mental illness field submitted by local authorities for the period 1973–76 show, however, a marked increase over previous years, an increase which is not of course reflected in the report. I much welcome this new pressure from the local authorities to provide such facilities.

The figures given in my reply to the hon. Member for Woolwich, East (Mr. Mayhew) today show that, of the projects submitted for the three-year period, approximately 86 per cent. of the residential home projects and 73 per cent. of the day centre projects for the mentally ill were included in the lists of schemes for which I would hope to give loan approval. The value of loan approvals for capital schemes for the mentally ill has risen substantially over the last three years and I envisage that there will be further increases in the future, in line with the rate of expansion which will be described in the White Paper I propose to issue next year.

In the selection of schemes for inclusion in the lists, priority has been and will continue to be given to schemes submitted by authorities for areas which have the greatest deficiencies in levels of provision. In advance of the White Paper, my Department will be issuing a circular giving further guidance about the development of local authority services for the mentally ill and emphasising the importance of adequate levels of residential and day care.

Present facilities for the mentally handicapped reflect to a larger extent the levels of capital investment before the publication of the Government's White Paper "Better Services for the Mentally Handicapped" (Command 4683). I have been very gratified with the response made by local authorities to the targets set in the White Paper, and we may expect to see a steady increase in the number of training centres and residential homes in all parts of the country. It was, however, acknowledged in the White Paper that although each year will show increased services it will take 15 to 20 years to reach the targets set, and I very much regret that it has not been possible to provide loan sanction for the considerably faster rate of development that some authorities have proposed.

The report draws attention to the needs of deprived areas. In addition to projects included in the building programmes I have already referred to, a number to help the mentally ill and mentally handicapped in areas of special need have also been approved under the urban programme.

The report also refers to the need to increase the ratio of qualified staff employed in social services departments. The Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work is well aware of the need to increase the output of qualified social workers and has announced plans for increasing the intake to courses for field social workers from about 2,600 a year in 1971–72 to about 4,000 by 1975 or 1976. The council is also expected to put forward in the near future proposals for a major expansion in training for residential social work.