§ Mr. Hannamasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he is in a position to make a further statement on the implementation of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986.
§ Mr. MajorI am pleased to announce that, following discussion with the local authority associations, I have today made a commencement order to bring into force on 1 April 1987 sections 4 (except paragraph(b)), 8(11, 9 and 10 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986. I hope that it will be possible to bring section 11 into force later this year.
I have discussed with the local authority associations how best to proceed towards implementation of the rest of the Act, in particular sections 5 and 6 which deal with disabled school leavers, given the resource implications. We agreed that there would be urgent discussions at official level to look in more detail at the costs, and that I should meet the local authority associations in May to review progress.