§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list and describe the information available about the numbers and categories of handicaps in children detected or assessed in recent years, stating whether information is available about the age at which a handicap was detected, and stating the nature of the areas or authorities for which separate information is available;
(2) if he will estimate the proportion of handicaps in children which is detected during (a) pregnancy, and (b) neonatal care; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation about the numbers of handicaps in children, detected in pregnancy or in childhood, is not collected centrally. There is a voluntary national scheme for reporting congenital malformations detected within the first seven days of birth, and the results of this are published regularly in the "Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Monitor", series MB3.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how handicaps in children are detected and assessed.
§ Mr. John PattenHandicapping conditions should be detected within the routine surveillance services that we expect health authorities to provide in order to monitor developmental progress in all children. A programme for these services was put forward by the Department in a paper "Prevention in the Child Health Services" published in 1980, and we know that health authorities have developed a variety of arrangements to provide a subsequent detailed professional assessment of the needs of handicapped children when they are detected.