Learning Disabilities (Hansard, 14 October 2002)

§ Clive Efford
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients with learning disabilities will leave institutional care in the next three years who will require support in the community from London local authorities; and what additional resources have been identified as being required to meet this future demand. [69169]

§ Jacqui Smith
In the autumn 2001 position statement, all local authorities were asked to identify the number of patients with learning difficulties currently living in long stay National Health Service hospitals, and their forecast numbers up to 2003–04.
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In autumn 2001, there were 179 people identified in London councils living in NHS long stay hospitals. Forecasts show that 40 would leave institutional care in 2001–02, 45 in 2002–03 and 93 in 2003–04.
Health authorities have been funded to care for the people with learning disabilities currently living in the old long stay hospitals. They are expected to work with local authorities in planning the transfer of residents and resources to support them to the community by a mutually agreed date. They should agree with the receiving local authority the care to be provided and any financial arrangements so that current and future responsibility for providing and meeting or contributing to the cost of that care is clear.
One of the five priorities for the use of the revenue element of the learning disability development fund is completing the reprovision of the remaining long-stay hospitals to enable people to move to more appropriate accommodation by April 2004. Of the £20.589 million available in 2002–03, £5.029 million has been allocated to London authorities. It is for them to decide how much of this they wish to spend on enabling people to move out of the long stay hospitals.

§ Clive Efford
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the projected numbers of individuals with learning disabilities requiring residential or living placements(a) for each London borough and (b) for London as a whole for the most recent three years for which figures are available.[69167]

§ Jacqui Smith
Information on projected numbers of people with learning difficulties requiring, or likely to require, residential or other forms of accommodation are not currently collected by the Department.
The Government's strategy for improving services for people with learning disabilities and their families is set out in the white paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disabilities for the 21st Century (Cm 6086) which was published in March 2001. Key to the implementation of the changes outlined in the white paper are learning disability partnership boards which are now established in each local authority area and which include social services departments.
The partnership boards are currently required to complete a housing strategy by the winter of 2002–03. Advice issued to partnership boards suggests that their planning should include projections of future demand, which should entail assessing current and past demand as part of their future projections.