Disabled Persons (Services, Representation and Consultation) Act 1986 (Hansard, 4 November 1987)

§ Mr. Scott

Following the successful outcome of discussions with the local authority associations, I am pleased to be able to announce that sections 5 and 6 of the Act are to be implemented with effect from 1 February 1988. That date has been selected to give local authorities time to make the necessary administrative arrangements. The next step will be to consult the associations and the consortium of voluntary organisations who have been monitoring the implementation of the Act on draft guidance to local authorities on these two sections. This will be done as soon as possible.

The first disabled school leavers to receive statutory assessment by local authority social services departments under the terms of section 5 will mainly be those reaching the statutory school leaving age in 1990. However, I hope that local authorities will be able to apply the new arrangements on a non-statutory basis to as many as possible disabled young people who leave school in 1989.

The additional costs arising from sections 5 and 6 in 1988–89, mainly in relation to the identification and assessment of disabled school leavers, are estimated at £5 million. The local authority associations have accepted that this is covered in the proposed personal social services provision for that year. It has also been agreed that the best estimate of additional service costs arising from assessments made under section 5 is £14 million in 1989–90 and £20 million in subsequent years. These figures will be taken into account in the public expenditure discussions for the appropriate year.

There will be continuing discussions with the local authority associations on the costs of other outstanding sections of the Act.