Commentary on Sections Services for disabled people Section 62: Reports to Parliament on services for disabled people
320.Section 62 amends section 11 of the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 (“the 1986 Act”) so that, for England and Wales, the Secretary of State is required to produce annually separate reports on the development of health and social services for people with mental illness and people with learning disability . The reports can include other appropriate information, for example information from other Government Departments about services for which they are responsible. There will is no longer be a statutory requirement to include information on the number of people receiving treatment for mental illness/learning disability as in-patients in hospitals. This section changes the terminology from “mental handicap” to “learning disability” and includes a definition of learning disability for the purposes of Section 11 of the 1986 Act. The law in Scotland remains unchanged.