§ Mr. Bradleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has given guidance to district health authorities on prevention, detection and curing of young people affected by glue sniffing; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergDistrict health authorities were advised in "Care in Action"* to plan and develop services in the light of local needs and circumstances. Help planned for professionals includes a paper on solvent misuse to be published in the Department's journal "Health Trends"† this month. The Department will shortly be consulting representatives of statutory and voluntary services to learn what more might be done to support and strengthen work on solvent misuse already undertaken by these agencies in various parts of the country to develop services in relation to local needs.
*"Care In Action: A Handbook of Polices and Priorities for the Health and Personal Social Services in England." Published DHSS 1981 prices £3.30.
† "Health Trends": issued free to district health authorities and doctors in contract with the NHS: published quarterly by DHSS price 75p.
§ Mr. Bradleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will commission further research into the cause of glue sniffing among young people and into possible preventive measures; what information he has as to the incidence of this practice; and whether he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergReliable information on the incidence of solvent misuse is not available and seems best obtained from small-scale local studies. Subject to receiving suitable applications and the availability of resources, the Department is ready to fund studies of this problem, in particular of prevalence and of effective service responses.