§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what have been the amounts for support finance for the mentally handicapped disbursed over the last five years.
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§ Mr. John MacKayThe amount disbursed in each year in respect of projects for the mentally handicapped since the support finance scheme was introduced in March 1980 ire as follows:
£ 1980–81 178,230 1981–82 182,839 1982–83 115,211 *1983–84 953,964 * Estimated outturn. Includes expenditure on two projects providing car for both the mentally and physically handicapped.
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what improvements in policy to help the mentally handicapped in Scotland have arisen from his comparative study of the Department of Health and Social Security consultative document "Care in the Community, 1981."
§ Mr. John MacKay"Care in the Community" outlines several possible ways of overcoming the legal, administrative and financial obstacles to transferring long-stay hospital patients to more appropriate forms of care in the community. It did not consider policies for specific client groups, such as the mentally handicapped.
My right hon. Friend is taking into account in his current review of the Scottish support finance scheme consequent changes in the English joint finance scheme.
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what principal changes in policy for the mentally handicapped in relation to hospital and community care have taken place since 1979.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe report on "Scottish Health Authorities Priorities for the Eighties", which was endorsed by my right hon. Friend, gave high priority to the needs of the mentally handicapped and to reducing dependence on hospital provision for such persons. Since then there have been significant improvements in provision for the mentally handicapped in the community and also for those who still have to remain in hospital.
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will establish equivalent Scottish bodies to carry out the work performed in England by the former national developments group for the mentally handicapped and the current development team for the mentally handicapped.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe former English national development group for the mentally handicapped produced a report in 1980 entitled "Mentally Handicapped: Progress, Problems and Priorities". A similar report, entitled "A Better Life: Services for the Mentally Handicapped in Scotland", covering much the same ground, had been published in 1979 by a programme planning group of the Scottish Health Service planning council and the advisory council on social work. The recommendations in the Scottish report were endorsed in "Scottish Health Authorities Priorities for the Eighties", published in 1980 and commended to health boards by my right hon. Friend. The Scottish hospital advisory service has responsibilities in Scotland broadly similar to those of the English development team for the mentally handicapped.
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what target figures have been adopted for care of the 816W mentally handicapped in hospital and the community, respectively; and what progress has been made towards these targets.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe target figures recommended in the Peters report, "A Better Life: Services for the Mentally Handicapped in Scotland", and endorsed by the report "Scottish Health Authorities Priorities for the Eighties", were 1.2 hospital beds and 0.6 community places per thousand of the population. At the end of 1982, the latest date for which figures are available, approximately 1.33 hospital beds and 0.24 community places had been provided per thousand of the population.
§ Mr. Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what funds, other than support finance, are to be made available for expediting the return of mentally handicapped children to the community.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe current policy of reducing dependence upon hospital provision for the mentally handicapped is given effect by health boards and local authorities from the general financial resources available to them.