§ Mr. Eadieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will estimate the cost of raising the school leaving age to 18 years for the mentally handicapped in Scotland; and if he has any plans to do so.
§ Mr. Allan StewartWe have no plans to vary the upper limit of school age in respect of pupils with special educational needs arising from mental handicap; to introduce such a differential would be directly contrary to the advice of the Warnock committee. On present costs, a leaving age of 18 years for these pupils would entail additional expenditure of about £6 million per year.
§ Mr. Eadieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what future plans he has for new hostel accommodation for the mentally handicapped; what is the total number of places involved; and where they will be located;
(2) what future plans he has for new residential care for the mentally handicapped; what is the total number of places involved; and where they they will be located.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe provision of residential care in hospital and of hostel accommodation within the community is the responsibility of health boards and local authorities respectively, who assess the needs and make plans for their own areas. No detailed information is held centrally on the content of these plans.
§ Mr. Eadieasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many places there are in Scotland for hostel accommodation for the mentally handicapped; how the number of places compares with the figure of 0.6 places per 1,000 population recommended in the Peters report; and if he will identify where the places are provided by district council area;
(2) how many places there are in Scotland for residential care accommodation for the mentally handicapped; how the number of places compares with the figure of 1.8 places per 1,000 population recommended in the Peters report; and if he will identify where the places are provided by district council area.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe information requested is set out in the following tables; the figures for residential care accommodation are shown by health board area. The total number of hostel places is equivalent to 0.24 per thousand population; the places in residential care accommodation correspond to 1.28 per thousand population. Detailed information on the number of places in unstaffed group homes and in accommodation provided by housing associations is not held centrally
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Provisional number of places in homes for mentally handicapped 1982 District Local Authority Registered Voluntary Total Berwickshire — — — Ettrick/Lauderdale 14 149 163 Roxburgh 2 — 2 Tweeddale — — — Clackmannan — 7 7 Falkirk 8 — 8 Stirling 13 — 13 Annandale/Eskdale — — — Nithsdale — — — Stewartry 10 — 10 Wigtown — — — Dunfermline — — — Kirkcaldy 20 — 20
District Local Authority Registered Voluntary Total North East Fife — — — Aberdeen 67 103 170 Banff/Buchan 35 — 35 Gordon 12 — 12 Kincarkine/Deeside — 41 41 Moray 37 — 37 Badenoch/Strathspey — — — Caithness 19 — 19 Inverness 10 8 18 Lochaber — — — Nairn — — — Ross/Cromarty 10 — 10 Skye/Lochalsh — — — Sutherland — — — East Lothian 45 44 89 Edinburgh 43 17 60 Midlothian — — — West Lothian 12 — 12 Argyll/Bute — — — Bearsden/Milngavie — — — Clydebank 8 — 8 Cumbemauld/Kilsyth — — — Dumbarton 8 — 8 Strathkelvin — — — Cumnock/Doon Valley 12 — 12 Cunninghame 12 22 34 Kilmamock/Loudoun 12 — 12 Kyle/Carrick 22 115 137 Glasgow 65 29 94 East Kilbride — — — Hamilton — — — Lanark 42 — 42 Monklands 12 — 12 Motherwell — — — Eastwood — — — Inverclyde 16 — 16 Renfrew 14 — 14 Angus 54 — 54 Dundee 55 — 55 Perth/Kinross — — — Orkney 12 — 12 Shetland 6 — 6 Western Isles — — — Scotland Total 707 535 1,242
Beds in mental handicap hospitals by health board area—September 1981 Number Argyll and Clyde 344 Ayrshire and Arran 111 Borders 32 Dumfries and Galloway 20 Fife 510 Forth Valley 1,230 Grampian 708 Greater Glasgow 1,465 Highland 241 Lanarkshire 612 Lothian 742 Orkney — Shetland — Tayside 596 Western Isles — Scotland Total 6,611