§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make available to schools a video cassette film showing the consequences of inhaling the spray from aerosols.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasMy right hon. Friend has no plans to do so. The extreme danger and folly of this form of solvent misuse is widely known. However, the responses to health departments' public consultation in 1983 in England and Wales on measures to combat solvent misuse supported the Government's view that it can be counter-productive to draw attention to methods of solvent misuse in a way which is separate from wider health education activities. That consultation did, however, confirm the need for more information and guidance for parents and the professions and services involved to help them to co-operate more effectively in preventing and coping with solvent misuse in all its manifestations.
For the steps which the Government have taken and are taking to assist in this way, I refer the hon. Gentleman to my hon. Friend's statement of 15 December 1983 at columns 581–2. The video film "Illusions" and the publications referred to in that statement continue to be available and are in considerable demand. Consultants on the preparation of a leaflet to help parents, teachers and other professionals have now been completed by the Department of my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Social Services, and we intend that a leaflet will be available on request soon. There will be an edition in the Welsh language. The Health Education Council has produced a package of material entitled "Solvent abuse: a training manual for professionals" which should be available shortly following pilot tests of its usefulness with health education officers and other professionals.