§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many places there are in residential establishments for children, excluding approved schools and remand homes, in England, in each region and in each local authority; and if she will express these totals per 1,000 population aged 17 years and under.
§ Dr. OwenIt is regretted that the information is not available in the form requested. The information that is available is set out below. According to the plans prepared by children's regional planning committees the number of places available in community homes, excluding the former approved schools and remand homes which are now administered as community homes, by regional planning area, and the number of places per 1,000 of population aged 17 years and under are follows:
Regional planning area Number of places Places per 1,000 of population 1 2,128 2.5 2 3,078 2.3 3 4,280 2.2 4 3,630 2.4 5 2,136 1.8 6 996 1.2 7 1,643 1.6 8 6,853 3.8 9 1,917 2.0 10 1,494 2.0 11 1,382 1.7 In addition to the places in community homes there are some 7,000 places in registered voluntary children's homes, but a breakdown by regions is not available.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of social workers employed by each local authority social services department for all the English regions and for England; and if she will express 544W the totals per 1,000 population in each authority region and in England as a whole.
§ Mr. Alec JonesI am sending the hon. Member a copy of returns giving details of social workers employed by local authority social services departments in England as at 30th September 1973. I will also let him have figures for the numbers employed per 1,000 population as soon as possible.