Board of Control
23rd Annual Report for the Year 1936. Part I. H.M. Stationery Omce, 1/6. From the Board of Control’s Report for 1936 (Part 1) we take the following facts which should be of interest to all who are dealing with the problem of Mental Deficiency.
Numbers under Care On January 1st, 1937, the total number of defectives under care was 82,726?an increase of 3,985 on the figures for the preceding year.
Of the total number, 42,441 were in Certified Institutions and Homes; 3,978 under Guardianship or Notified, and 36,307 under Statutory Supervision.
Ascertainment
The ascertainment rate of defectives reported to Local Authorities was?at the beginning of 1937?2.88 per 1,000 of the population. (It will be remembered that the estimate given by the Wood Committee, of defectives for whom Local Authorities are, or may at anv time become, responsible was 4.52 per 1,000.)
To the usual table giving the ascertainment rate of each individual Local Authority, the Board have this year added a column showing the proportion of ascertained defectives who have been placed under community care as well as those sent to institutions. This shows that in no instance has action been taken on all the cases ascertained as being ” subject to be dealt with “?although in some areas the discrepancy may be explained by the extensive use of voluntary rather than statutory supervision.
The number of children notified by Local Education Authorities during the year under the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Acts, was 3,991. This is an increase of 458 on the 1935 figures, but it is unsatisfactory to note that in 14.2 per cent, of the cases, no official action followed the receipt of notification. In addition to children statutorily notified, 3,584 children between the ages of 14 and 16 (outside the provisions of the Acts because they have not attended Special Schools) were informally reported to Local Education Authorities for Voluntary SuperDefectives on Public Assistance The number of defectives “subject to be dealt with ” and in receipt of Poor Relief was 9,494, an increase of 220 on last year’s figure. This number, it is pointed out, can only diminish with the growth of the colony accommodation which is so urgently necessary.
ft is suggested, however, that in regard to the 3,896 defectives (1935 : 3,781) in receipt of Out-Relief, there is no reason why these should not be transferred to the Mental Deficiency Authority as the provision of financial assistance can then be accompanied by the other types of help?such as training and supervision?which are needed in such cases.
Accommodation
On January 1st, 1937, the total number of beds available in Certified Institutions provided by Local Authorities, and by other bodies, and in Public Assistance Institutions under Section 37, was 39,254. This is an increase of 1,014 on last year’s figure, but the need for still further beds remains urgent. Twenty-one Local Authorities have not yet provided any institutional accommodation, although the majority of these have schemes under consideration. A number of other schemes have received statutory approval or approval in principle.
Licence
There was an addition of 586 cases on Licence during the year (3,023 as against 2,437), and figures from five of the older Institutions show that the numbers coming under this category at any one time vary between 8.6 per cent, to 17.9 per cent, of the total number of patients on the books. There is, however, only one Institution?the Royal Eastern Counties’?where the practice of placing patients with foster-parents rather than in their homes, is extensively practised, 31 per cent of the lower grade licensed patients being dealt with in this way. In the Report is incorporated a Memorandum on the question of Licence issued to Local Authorities in May, 1937.
Guardianship ————-At the beginning of 1937, there were 3,729 defectives under Guardianship, of which number 52.7 per cent, were placed with parents. The total number represents an increase of 348 on last year’s figures.
Supervision
The number of defectives under Statutory Supervision on January 1st, 1937, viz, 36,307, represents as increase of 1,467; the number under Voluntary Supervision, 25,048, is 643 less than last year. In referring to the use of Voluntary Supervision the Board point out the limitations of this form of care and urge its substitution by a proper system of Statutory Supervision accompanied by training.
Occupation Centres, Industrial Centres and Home Training ——————————————- There were, on January 1st, 1937, actuall}’ three Centres less than on the same date twelve months earlier?189 as against 192).
This was largely due to amalgamations of certain of the smaller ones, but it is disappointing to read that there has been an increase of only 13 defectives, viz., 4,021 as against 4,008 in attendance at Centres throughout the country. Only one new Club was opened during the year, and as two were closed, there was a net loss of one. In commenting on this position, the Board refer to the ” apparently haphazard development ” of Centres in relation to population; thus there are towns of over 200,000 inhabitants where no such provision is yet made, and much smaller areas where it has been successfully established. Day training, they point out, is an essential service without which community care can never be fully effective.
In only nine areas (Birmingham, Buckinghamshire, Devon, Hastings, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Staffordshire, Suffolk and Sunderland) is Home Training by supervising officers or visiting teachers being carried on.
The appointment in certain large areas, of a supervisor responsible for the training of defectives, living in their own homes, in order to assist the Local Authority in carrying out its duty in this respect, is favourably noted.
Mental Defect and Crime
In 1936, 367 defectives were dealt with under Section 8 and Section 9 of the Mental Deficiency Acts (as against 401 in 1935). It is not, however, considered that this gives a true picture of the number of defectives who have committed criminal offences, as in many instances, instead of taking proceedings under the Acts magistrates record no conviction but request the Local Authority to deal with a delinquent defective as ” found neglected ” or as having been notified by the Local Education Authority. The Board deplore the fact that in 1936, there was an increase in the number of criminal defectives sent by the Courts under Section 8 or transferred under Section 9, to Certified Public Assistance Institutions instead of to Colonies. In 1935, only 8.2 per cent, of the total number of cases were dealt with in this way, whereas in 1936, the proportion rose to 21.5 per cent.
Dealing with the previous histories of defectives coming before the Courts, the Board point out that the majority continue to come from elementary schools (during the last three years, this figure has been in the neighbourhood of 70 per cent.) and to have been hitherto unascertained by Education Authorities.
A table showing the distribution of offences committed by defectives in the years 1934, 1935 and 1936, shows a total number of 344 cases of Larceny, and 284 of sex offences, this latter category representing 26 per cent, of the total.
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