HC Deb 18 April 1989 vol 151 cc122-3W
Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list by region the estimated growth in the population of(a) over 75-year-old and (b) over 85-year-old people as a percentage of the total population for each of the next 10 years.

Mr. Freeman

The information requested is given in the table.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has given to regional health authorities on the funding of resettlement projects for the mentally ill.

Mr. Freeman

Resources for care in the community are made available from the main programme expenditure of health authorities and local authorities. Although no guidance has been given centrally, is is for health authorities and local authorities to determine how to deploy these resources in the light of local needs and circumstances.

Within health authority budgets, a specific allocation of joint finance is identified for community schemes jointly agreed between health authorities, local authorities, family practitioner committees and voluntary organisations.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has issued any guidelines to regions for achieving targeted growth in mental illness services.

Mr. Freeman

Last summer we issued planned guidelines to health authorities which included a requirement that by 1991 each district must have developed a "care programme" to provide a system of co-ordinated continuing care for people chronically disabled by mental illness, but living mainly in the community.

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has issued any guidelines to health authorities on the way in which they determine the proportion of resources they should devote to services for the mentally ill.

Mr. Freeman

In general, allocations to regional health authorities do not make separate provision for individual clinical services or client groups. It is for authorities to determine how the resources available to them should be spent in line with national policy guidelines and their assessment of local needs and priorities.