asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many specialist social workers for the blind have had training in the needs of the mentally handicapped;(2) what is the total number of specialist social workers for the blind employed in England.

These statistics are not kept by central Government.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what assistance is available to help social workers for the blind obtain training to assist the blind multi-handicapped;(2) if he will take steps to increase the provision for social workers dealing with the blind of specialist training in the needs of mentally handicapped people on a regional basis.

The responsibility for training, and the identification of training needs of social workers rests with the employers and the central council for education and training in social work. If the need for such training was established regionally and a course was approved by CCETSW, limited financial assistance would be available centrally from CCETSW—to the courses—and from the Department—to students—to supplement expenditure by employers.