Vol. 444 No. 1
131 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are no proper assessment centres in this country to assess children with emotional and social problems; and if he will address the lack of proper and full co-ordination between child care workers, social workers and the Departments of Health, Education and Justice.
The provision of assessment services for children with emotional and social problems is the responsibility of the health boards. This service is available in all health boards through their community care teams and, where appropriate, through the child and adolescent psychiatric services. There has been significant progress in the development of child and adolescent psychiatric services throughout the country in recent years. Specialist child and adolescent psychiatric services, including the assessment of children with emotional problems, are now available in each health board area. I am not aware of any particular difficulty regarding the co-ordination of the three Departments or the relevant professional staff in the provision of assessment services.
