§ 36. Mr. Galleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is able to report on the progress being made to move mentally handicapped children out of long-stay hospitals.
§ Mr. John PattenProjects so far approved and financed through the £1 million allocated to the pound for pound scheme and the £9 million schemes—described in my answer to the hon. Member for Eccles (Mr. Carter-Jones) on 25 October, at column721—will bring over 300 children out of mental handicap hospitals. Mental handicap hospitals and units are not classified by the length of time patients stay. The number of children under 16 resident in all mental handicap hospitals and units in England has fallen from 7,100 in 1969 to about 1,270 at the end of 1983. These figures include children who are not normally resident but are receiving short periods of assessment or care, and also children in NHS community-based units. We would expect the numbers to continue to fall.