§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will publish for the United Kingdom a document comparable to "Swedish Plans and Programmes" for the International Year of Disabled People;
(2) if he will publish for the United Kingdom a document similar to "Handicap Policy in Sweden", and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiI have studied these books with great interest but would not feel justified in commissioning similar works for the United Kingdom. We have made clear our general policies for disabled people in "Care in Action" and elsewhere, and much of the detailed implementation of those policies is a matter for local and health authorities or other agencies at a local level, rather than for centrally promoted action.
The response to the International Year of Disabled People, both nationally and locally, is so extensive that any report could only be very selective. We have already placed a list of Government activities for the Year in the Library and the Voluntary Organisations Committees has had great success in securing wide publicity both for the aims and objectives of the Year and of specific events and themes linked to it. I hope that these Committees will produce a report listing the major achievements, which will assist the process of taking stock of policies and practice. But that cannot be done until after the end of the Year.