§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his latest estimate of the shortage of places for the mentally-ill.
§ Mr. John PattenIf the hon. Member has in mind hospital places, I am not aware of any shortages. Should he mean places provided by the local authorities and voluntary organisations in residential homes or day centres, I am aware of some shortages but am unable to provide a national estimate. There are no national statistics of places provided by voluntary organisations (only of people sponsored in voluntary and private establishments by local authorities), and also no fixed standards against which possible shortages might be measured. Local needs for residential places, for example, are affected by the availability of suitable sheltered housing, and needs for day centre places by the availability of day hospital places. Information on authorities not providing any places directly was given in my answer to the hon. Member for St. Helens, (Mr. Bermingham) on 18 November 1983 [Vol. 48, c.613–614.]