§ Mr. Beanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish the figures establishing the need under the norms laid down by his Department and the present provision of services by the Kent County Council in relation to the following categories within the five districts of the administration of the Kent County Council Social Service Department which covers the area of the Medway Health Districts (a) home help facilities, (b) numbers of day nursery places and residential places for children in care, (c) meals on wheels service, day centres for the elderly and residential places in homes for the elderly, (d) day centres, places for physically handicapped, (e) day centres, hostels and staffed homes for the mentally ill, and (f) the provision of foster homes/lodging facilities for the mentally ill; and what if any is the provision for the age groups of 0 to 15 years and 15 plus years.
§ Mr. Moyle, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 27th April 1978; Vol. 948, cc. 631–2], gave the following information:
Figures for the level of provision of personal social services within districts are not collected centrally. Information available for the Kent Social Services Department at 31st March 1977 and covering all districts in Kent is set out below and compared with the figures for England as a whole. The Department does not specify levels of provision which must be adhered to by authorities, but 375W planning guidelines are issued from time to time which give broad national objectives and "illustrative projections" for provision years. Projections as published, for instance, in the Department's discussion
PROVESION PER THOUSAND RELEVANT POPULATION AT 31ST MARCH 1977 Service Kent England Relevant population (see footnote) Home Help Cases(1) … … … … 68 100 (a) Meals Served at Home(1) … … … … 1,990 3,701 (a) Day Centre Places for Elderly … … … 0.41 3.13* (a) Day Centre Places for YPH … … … 0.17 0.47* (b) Day Centre Places for Mentally Ill … … 0.03 0.11* (c) Residents Supported by LAs in Homes for the Elderly and YPH … … … … … 13.2 17.5† (a) Places in Staffed Homes and Hostels … … 0.04 0.05 (c) Places in Unstaffed Homes and Hostels for Mentally Ill … … … … … 0.05 0.02 (c) Mentally Ill Persons Lodging in Private Accommodation … … … … … … 0.01 0.02 (c) Day Nursery Places … … … … … 0.31‡ 8.28‡ (d) Children in Care in Residential Establishments … 2.64‡ 3.56‡ (e) (1) Figures relate to twelve months ending 31st March 1977. Population: June 1976. (a) 65 years and over June 1976. (b) 15–64 years June 1976 (c) Total. (d) 0–4 years June 1975. (e) 0–17 years June 1975. * Estimates. † Provisional. ‡ 31st March 1976.