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29
local authority to any such voluntary association which operates in its area of such
amounts as may be specified in the scheme. To this end the Council was required to
furnish the Minister with particulars of the duties to be undertaken by the voluntary
associations during the three years ending on 31st March, 1933, and of the amount
of grant proposed to be paid by the Council to those associations in each of the three
years. In effect, the Council was required to indicate what duties under the Mental
Deficiency Acts it intended to allocate to the London Association for Mental Welfare
during the three years ending on 31st March, 1933, and what payments the Council
proposed to make to the Association for the work thus undertaken on the Council's
behalf.
22. This request led the Council to consider the whole position in relation to
the execution, in the future, of those duties under the Mental Deficiency Acts which
the London Association hitherto had carried out on the Council's behalf. As a result,
the Council decided that, as from 1st April, 1931, it would itself undertake those
delegated duties, and would absorb as far as possible into its service the staff employed
by the Association. In arriving at this decision, the Council put upon record its
complete satisfaction with the manner in which the London Association had carried
out their duties on its behalf; but with the prospect, resulting from the passing of
the Local Government Act, of a large increase in the number of defectives to be
supervised and of cases on leave of absence from institutions, and of additional
inquiries as to home circumstances for the visitors of institutions likely to be called
for as the number of cases in institutions and under guardianship increases, it seemed
better, in view of the considerable expenditure involved, that the Council should
itself undertake those duties, rather than delegate them to a voluntary agency.
Further reference to this matter will be made in the next report.
Provision of occupation and industrial centres.
23. The use of " occupation centres," details of which are given in the Annual
Reports for 1923 (Vol. II., pp. 19-21) and 1924 (Vol. II., pp. 27-28) has been
continued during 1929. These centres at which mentally defective children who
are unfit for attendance at special schools may attend otherwise than compulsorily
for simple occupational training, are organised by voluntary effort with financial
assistance from the Council and the Board of Control,
24. In view, however, of section 7 (2) (i) of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927,
which imposes upon local authorities a duty to provide training or occupation for
defectives under supervision, occupation centres have become a necessary part of
the Council's machinery for administering the Mental Deficiency Acts, and are
no longer part of a voluntary scheme.
25. Two additional part-time occupation centres for children were opened
during 1929, one at Hammersmith and one at Lewisham.
26. In the Annual Report for 1928 (Vol. II., par. 33, et seq), reference was
made to the proposed establishment of industrial centres for defectives under supervision
or on licence from certified institutions who are over sixteen years of age.
During 1929 four such centres were established, viz. : two for elder girls and
young women (one at Hackney and one at Southwark) and two for boys of 16 to 18
years of age (one at Camberwell and one at Shoreditch).
27. By the end of the year there was evidence that the experiment of establishing
industrial centres for defectives over 16 years of age promised to be successful.
Owing, however, to the Council's decision itself to undertake those duties under
the Mental Deficiency Acts hitherto performed by the London Association (see par. 22,
ante), it was decided not to extend the experiment of establishing industrial centres
before 1st April, 1931.
28. The following table gives particulars of the centres of which use has been
made by the Council during the year ended 31st March, 1930, and of attendances
Council's
decision
itself to
undertake
delegated
duties as
from 1st
April, 1931.
Continuation
of the
scheme of
"ocoupation
centres."
Duty to
provide
training or
occupation.
New
occupation
centres.
Industrial
centres.
Results of
experiment.
Centres in
use, and
attendances.