§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is in a position to add to the Minister of State's reply of 12th May in connection with the case of Mr. Ronald Cobbett.
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§ Dr. OwenThe Sheffield Metropolitan District Council and the Sheffield Area Health Authority have set up a joint working party to examine existing arrangements in Sheffield for social work services in psychiatry and, if necessary, to make recommendations for improvements. The working party has been given wide terms of reference covering the arrangements for social work services to the psychiatric units in Sheffield and for psychiatric assistance to the local authority's family and community services department; the relationship between doctors and social workers and their mutual professional expectations; the collaborative machinery between the two authorities including the rôles of certain key personnel; and the question of coterminosity between the district health and social services boundaries. The working party will consider the types of problem raised by the case of Mr. Cobbett and I do not consider that any useful purpose would be served by instituting a separate inquiry specifically related to that case.