§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what extra resources will be made available for the provision of community care for the mentally ill;
(2) what plans he has to earmark financial resources for the care of the mentally ill.
§ Mr. Lang[holding answer 15 January 1990]: The recently published White Paper "Caring for People" (Cmd. 849) states that local authorities will receive adequate resources to enable them to discharge their new responsibilities. These extend to the provision of care and support for persons with mental illness in the community. Local authorities will have transferred to them resources that the Government would otherwise have used to finance residential care through social security payments to people in residential and nursing homes.
Local authorities are generally free to determine the use of the resources available to them for their various responsibilities. The White Paper announced that there will be a specific grant to help accelerate the development of community-based services for persons with mental illness.