§ Ms. AbbottTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether his Department has conducted or is conducting research into the reasons for the disproportionate numbers of blacks in mental hospitals;
(2) whether his Department has conducted or is conducting research into the disproportionately high incidence of diagnosed schizophrenia among blacks.
§ Mr. FreemanThe Department of Health directly commissions a range of research into mental illness pertaining to the general population. The Department is not funding research specifically into reasons for the occurrence of mental illness in ethnic minorities; but since 1985 it has been supporting NAFSIYAT, a voluntary organisation active in the field of ethnic psychiatry, to evaluate the effectiveness in providing a treatment service in the community aimed at ethnic minority populations. The Department has made available about £1 million in 1988–89 for research into the care and treatment of mentally ill people, including schizophrenia.
In 1987–88 (the latest year for which figures are available) the Medical Research Council, the main Government agency for the funding of medical and related biological research in the United Kingdom, allocated £10.4 million to research into mental health.
§ Ms. AbbottTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department intends to review mental health care among ethnic minorities in light of the particular problems faced by such groups.
§ Mr. FreemanIt is for health and social services authorities to identify and take account of the needs of all sections of the community when reviewing, planning and funding local mental health services. The importance of mental health care was emphasised at a seminar on ethnic minority health, held in November 1987 for health authority chairmen and managers, chaired by the then Minister for Health. The Minister drew attention to the difficulties which needed to be overcome when mentally ill40W patients and those treating them had different cultural backgrounds. In addition, where appropriate, Ministers are raising questions on improving health services for ethnic minorities through the review system.