§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take steps to assist local authorities to cope with cases of child abuse.
§ Sir George YoungChild abuse is essentially a matter for local authorities and other agencies but the Department has in the past provided guidance from time to time to assist them in their task and my right hon. Friend is hoping to issue further guidance shortly. The Department is also preparing a synthesis of the reports of inquiries into child abuse cases, highlighting lessons which might be learnt from them, and is planning to review existing manuals of practice in child abuse in order to commend the best features to those revising their own manuals.