Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Disabled People – 10 March 1987

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Disabled People on 10th March 1987.

Mr. Wigley Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now state the outcome of the discussions he has held with bodies representing local authorities with regard to the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986, and the Government’s latest timetable for the full implementation of the Act.

Mr. Major I met the local authority associations on 24 February to discuss implementation of the Act. At the meeting it was agreed that sections 9 and 10 will be brought into effect on 1 April. The local authority associations expressed concern about the possible resource implications of sections 4 and 8, and I shall be writing to them shortly about that. I hope that it will be possible to implement those sections too on 1 April. We also expect to implement section 11 during 1987.

The resource implications of sections 5 and 6 of the Act, which cover disabled school-leavers, were also discussed at the meeting with the associations. It was agreed that urgent discussions between officials from the associations and the Department should take place to estimate those resource implications more accurately with a view to a further meeting between the associations and myself in May.

It was also agreed that there should be discussions at official level to make more realistic estimates of the costs of sections 3 and 7 of the Act and that progress in these discussions will he reviewed at the meeting in May.

It is not possible to announce a timetable for full implementation of the Act. The discussions. that are proceeding at official level with the local authority associations will enable us to estimate more precisely the resource implications of the various sections of the Act. This should help to make progress towards establishing such a timetable.