§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has issued any further advice to local authority social services departments on maintaining registers of handicapped people since his Department's local authority circular 17/74; if he is satisfied with the returns made to his Department by local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiNo further advice has been issued. Since that circular, many local authorities have devoted great efforts to the identification and classification of disabled people. Those registered still fall short of the estimated registerable population but there has been a continued increase in the numbers registered. I regret, however, that three authorities have not made returns to the Department since 1979.