§ Mr. Charles Irvingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he has taken to achieve wide circulation and discussion of the second annual report of the National Development Group on mental handicap.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinI think my hon. Friend is referring to the second report of the development team for the mentally handicapped, which was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office on 25 February and costs £2.75. The Department has sent copies of the report to every health and social services authority in England as well as to health districts, mental handicap hospitals and community health councils. Copies were also made available to the press and placed in the Library of the House. In my foreword to the report I have stressed the value I attach to the work of the team and my gratitude to the director and his colleagues, and have expressed the hope that authorities will find the team's report useful as a stimulus to their own thinking about mental handicap services.