HC Deb 27 November 1995 vol 267 cc514-6W
Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the average percentage of local authority personal social services budgets currently spent on mental health services; [1922]

(2) how many local authorities' expenditure falls below the average currently spent on mental health services; and if he will list those authorities, giving the percentage of their budgets devoted to such services, in descending order. [1923]

Mr. Bowis

Local authorities' budget returns for 1995–96 show that, overall, planned expenditure on mental health services in England represents 5.6 per cent. of the total of personal social services budgets.

The 57 authorities who have budgeted to spend below that percentage on mental health services are shown in the table.

Personal social services: percentage of total budgeted expenditure on mental health services 1995–96
Percentage
Hereford and Worcester 5.5
Avon 5.3
Cheshire 5.3
Bromley 5.1
Hillingdon 5.0
Sheffield 4.9
Newham 4.9
Knowsley 4.8
Devon 4.7
Barking and Dagenham 4.7
Redbridge 4.7
East Sussex 4.7
Dorset 4.6
Cleveland 4.6
South Tyneside 4.6
North Yorkshire 4.5
Coventry 4.5
Suffolk 4.4
Dudley 4.4
Derbyshire 4.4
Bexley 4.2
Wakefield 4.2
Sefton 4.2
Rochdale 4.1
Cumbria 4.1
Tameside 4.1
Humberside 4.1
Salford 4.1
Wirral 4.0
Lancashire 4.0
Berkshire 3.9
Wiltshire 3.9
Leeds 3.9
Kent 3.9
Cornwall 3.9
Barnsley 3.8
Havering 3.7
Sunderland 3.7
Wolverhampton 3.6
Cambridgeshire 3.5
West Sussex 3.4
Durham 3.3
Calderdale 3.3
Bedfordshire 3.3
Stockport 3.2
St. Helens 3.2
Essex 3.2
Gloucestershire 3.1
Hertfordshire 3.0
Walsall 2.8
Doncaster 2.6
Bury 2.6
Lincolnshire 2.4

Personal social services: percentage of total budgeted expenditure on mental health services 1995–96
Percentage
Northumberland 2.2
Wigan 2.2
Staffordshire 1.8
Isles of Scilly 0.5

Percentages based on figures from local authorities' budget returns on form RA96.

Dr. Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for health if it is his policy that places for mentally ill people in residential homes are interchangeable with psychiatric hospital beds. [1921]

Mr. Bowis

Our policy is that mentally ill people should be placed in the accommodation best suited to their assessed needs.