§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason social services departments are not always contactable by accident and emergency departments during the evenings. [78025]
§ Jacqui SmithIt is the responsibility of local authorities to make sure that they have proper systems for responding to emergencies when they arise.
The White Paper, Modernising Social Services, reminded local authorities of the need to "provide reliable and sufficient out of hours services". In October 1999 the social services inspectorate published a report of its inspection of social services out of hours services entitled Open All Hours. The report encouraged social services managers to review their out of hours provision and contained guidance on providing out of hours services.