HL Deb 04 May 1999 vol 600 cc67-8WA
Lord Pearson of Rannoch

asked Her Majesty's Government:

With reference to the forthcoming conference entitled "Improving Quality in Residential Supports for People with Learning Disabilities", whether the conference will include presentations of research commissioned by the Department of Health; and, if SO—

  1. (a) whether any such research findings will be placed in the public domain before the conference: and, if not, why not;
  2. (b) whether the Department of Health attempted to prevent any premature or inappropriate use of such findings; and, if not, why not; and
  3. (c) what was the cost of the research in question. [HL2188]

Baroness Hayman

The conference will include presentations of some aspects of the study, which was commissioned by the Department of Health.

The conference was arranged independently by the Hester Adrian Research Centre (HARC) for 29 April in the expectation that the results of the research project evaluating the cost and outcomes of different types of residential provision for people with learning disabilities would be published by that date. When they realised that this would not be the case, HARC discussed the implications with Department of Health officials, who negotiated a presentation of some aspects of the study only. The researchers are not presenting the full results of the research at this stage but will concentrate on the comparative quality and costs of supported living and staffed housing schemes. They will not be presenting any results pertaining to the quality or costs of village communities or residential campuses.

The department has just received comments from academic experts on a full draft report of this project. Once the researchers have addressed these, the department will be arranging for the full results to be made widely available as soon as possible.

This research cost £274,000.