Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 29 Apr 1997

Vol. 478 No. 4

Written Answers. - Mental Handicap Services.

Seán Haughey

Question:

68 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Health if he will give a breakdown of the funding provided for the provision of services for people with a mental handicap or learning disability in relation to day services, residential places and so on between the voluntary agencies and the psychiatric hospitals run by the health boards; if recent increases in expenditure favour the voluntary agencies more; if the proposed database will be adequately funded in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11335/97]

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Mr. O'Shea)

The last year in which figures in relation to health expenditure on services to persons with a mental handicap are available is 1996 and are as follows:

	Amount	%
	£m
Health Board services	51.2	23
Voluntary services funded by Health Boards	37.4	17
Voluntary services funded directly by the Department of Health	130.8	60

The allocation of funding between the statutory and voluntary sector reflects the historic development of services to persons with a mental handicap.The division of development moneys between services provided by voluntary and health board agencies is agreed by the local co-ordinating committees and not by me. The co-ordinating committees are representative of health boards, the voluntary service providers and parents and families of persons with a mental handicap.

The funding and maintenance of the intellectual disability database is the responsibility of the health boards. The database is the primary mechanism for assessing the current and future needs of persons with a mental handicap. My Department has set up an audit mechanism to ensure continuing data accuracy, and has also put in place procedures to monitor the completeness of the data. The Government is committed, under Partnership 2,000 for inclusion, employment and competitiveness, to the development of services to persons with a mental handicap, within overall resource parameters, based on the assessment of need, which I published last week.