Fostering

Dr. Roger Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether his Department monitors the level of provision by local authority social services departments on fostering services.

The Department receives statistical and financial information from each local authority on the level of child care services, including fostering. A summary is published in "Children in Care in England and Wales, March 1980", a report to Parliament by the Secretaries of State for Social Services and for Wales. Further detail is contained in the Departmental publication "Children in Care of Local Authorities, Year Ending 31 March 1980, England", Reference A/F80/12. Copies of both are in the Library of the House. These data provide the Department with a broad picture of service development to help complement information from other sources, for example, research projects and the work of the Department's social work service.

£000s
	Support Services
Region	Maintenance Contracts						Service and Maintenance Contracts
	Medical and surgical equipment		X-ray equipment		Laboratory equipment		Catering		Laundry		Cleaning
	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82
Northern	398	480	416	460	160	247	9	22	208	226	297	222
Yorkshire	564	759	215	223	185	190	—	—	287	423	542	540
Trent	1,006	1,495	400	553	457	525	40	70	155	221	294	346
East Anglia	196	231	144	175	136	147	nil	—	26	15	789	907
North West Thames	806	1,031	364	539	271	369	41	27	849	858	737	895
North East Thames	904	973	682	715	484	512	44	63	1,002	972	1,983	962
South East Thames	907	949	601	631	281	381	40	28	1,095	992	594	624
South West Thames	504	643	385	569	173	212	41	72	590	698	793	631
Wessex	495	861	282	381	135	152	28	—	237	283	192	182
Oxford	177	292	126	114	154	147	7	7	470	641	1,281	972
South Western	495	742	334	390	260	295	14	31	719	809	161	166
West Midlands	857	1,201	361	595	246	401	17	34	328	375	458	481
Mersey	644	625	391	380	167	241	6	2	223	160	184	231
North Western	755	900	382	424	376	511	nil	2	468	538	549	545
All Regions	8,708	11,182	5,083	6,149	3,485	4,330	287	358	6,657	7,211	8,854	7,704
Board of Governors	245	290	341	364	84	73	691	382	520	456	784	827
Total	8,953	11,472	5,424	6,513	3,569	4,403	978	740	7,177	7,667	9,638	8,531

£000s
Support Services											Contractual arrangements for patient care
Region	Service and Maintenance Contracts								Total
	Engineering maintenance		Building maintenance		Ground etc. maintenance		Vehicle maintenance
	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82	1980–81	1981–82
Northern	1,729	2,406	2,223	3,710	73	67	361	729	5,874	8,569	925	1,046
Yorkshire	3,295	3,084	4,119	5,164	285	303	337	253	9,829	10,939	1,302	1,452
Trent	2,597	2,766	2,618	3,930	95	164	844	833	8,506	10,903	1,054	1,210
East Anglia	1,230	1,408	1,073	1,727	17	40	239	287	3,850	4,937	1,350	1,618
North West Thames	4,405	5,110	4,753	5,642	316	384	524	545	13,066	15,400	3,421	3,615
North East Thames	5,233	5,813	5,737	6,564	231	258	480	489	16,780	17,321	3,032	3,208
South East Thames	3,702	4,531	4,928	5,101	219	253	446	442	12,813	13,932	1,506	1,752
South West Thames	4,093	3,809	3,967	4,108	288	425	377	469	11,211	11,636	5,167	5,716
Wessex	1,728	1,896	1,529	2,492	99	98	429	351	5,154	6,696	896	1,042
Oxford	1,445	1,834	1,279	1,558	190	170	558	602	5,687	6,337	780	1,002
South Western	2,814	3,669	2,500	3,566	107	117	955	946	8,359	10,731	1,223	1,499
West Midlands	4,041	4,055	4,471	5,326	268	280	512	605	11,559	13,353	1,474	1,910
Mersey	2,229	2,753	2,349	3,076	176	208	268	294	6,637	7,970	1,905	1,576
North Western	3,648	5,181	4,240	6,883	393	499	268	312	11,079	15,795	4,502	5,154
All Regions	42,189	48,315	45,786	58,847	2,757	3,266	6,598	7,157	130,404	154,519	28,537	31,800
Board of Governors	909	1,425	1,190	1,300	52	35	17	21	4,833	5,173	4	42
Total	43,098	49,740	46,976	60,147	2,809	3,301	6,615	7,178	135,237	159,692	28,541	31,842

Notes:

1. The figures are derived from annual financial statements submitted to the Department by NHS authorities excluding the Prescription Pricing Authority and Dental Estimates Board.

2. Minimal expenditure (ie less that £1,000) has been indicated by the use of a dash (—).

3. No detailed analysis of authorities' expenditure on contractual arrangements for patient care is held centrally.

Volume 33: debated on Thursday 2 December 1982