§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on day centre provision for people with learning disabilities in Shropshire. [160376]
§ Mr. HuttonShropshire has 12 day centres for people with learning disabilities. These provide a range of opportunities including employment, leisure, therapeutic help and access to education. Some of the centres provide extra support or activities for people who have severe disabilities.
Most of these centres are small, but the two centres based in Shrewsbury are large centres each catering for between 70 to 90 people. As part of a three-year county-wide improvement plan, social services have increased the learning disability budget by 18 per cent. to modernise the service and to provide users in Shrewsbury with small local provision, which will be consistent with the type of provision available in the rest of the county.
A Joint Investment Plan for Learning Disability in Shropshire has been submitted for formal evaluation to the Department. This, together with the action plan drawn up in response to the recent Joint Review report, gives details of an overall strategy to improve and integrate health and social services provision and make it more responsive to service users needs.