§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children were placed in long-stay mental handicap hospitals for short-stay or respite care in the last 12 months; for how long they stayed there on average, for every health district; and what alternative community provision, including specialist fostering, is available to such children in each health district and each social services authority.
§ Mrs. Currie[pursuant to her reply, 7 July 1987, c. 129]: I am sorry I cannot give my hon. Friend the information she seeks. Statistics are collected centrally on admissions to, and discharges from, mental handicap hospitals and units, but these cannot be linked to individual people. Figures on discharges by age and length of stay are contained in the set of booklets "Mental Health Statistics for England", available in the Library. Comprehensive information is not collected centrally on alternative community provision, including fostering arrangements.