§ Mr. Wareingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what resources his Department makes available to assist schizophrenia sufferers; what representations he has received about the funding of self-help groups and day centres for schizophrenia sufferers; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. CurrieA substantial proportion of the £1 billion we will spend this year on mental illness services will be used for the care and treatment of people with schizophrenia.
In addition we expect to spend about £1 million in 1987–88 on continuing research into the care and treatment of mentally ill people, much of which will be relevant to sufferers from schizophrenia; in 1986 we decided also to set aside an extra £0.5 million for six new research studies in mental illness, all including people with schizophrenia and one devoted exclusively to this group; these studies are now getting under way. Earlier the Department funded three action projects specifically aimed at achieving better co-ordination of after-care for sufferers from schizophrenia; the results are now becoming available and will be used to improve co-ordination nationally.
In recent years we have received a few enquiries from voluntary organisations about the availability of central funding for local services provided for sufferers from 911W schizophrenia. We have advised that under section 65 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 applications for funding for local schemes should be made to district health authorities or local authority social service departments. We make a contribution under section 64 of this Act by grant-aiding the central administrative costs of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (current grant £91,000 per annum) and the Northern Schizophrenia Fellowship and the North West Fellowship (current grants £20,000 per annum each).