Annual report of the Board of Control : 32nd, 1945.

Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the Board of Control : 32nd, 1945. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    26/64 (page 22)
    numbers sent out on licence may be partly due to the acute shortage of institutional accommodation and, for the same reason, many defectives in urgent need of institutional care and training have of necessity been left in the community. The figures since the year 1930 are as follows :— On 1st January Under statutory care in the community Under voluntary supervision On licence from institutions Under guardian¬ ship Under statutory supervision Total Ratio per 1,000 of population 1930 1,300 1.59i 22,706 25,597 0-65 20,032 1937 3.°23 3.729 36,307 43,059 1 *06 25,048 1939 3.107 4.531 39,009 46,647 1' 14 26,006 1940 3.427 4.723 39,848 47,998 1 • 16 25,739 1942 4.oi4 4.830 36,852 45,696 1 • 10 24,368 1944 4.835 4,668 39,824 49,327 1 • 19 23,994 1946 5,286 4.678 4i,8o4 51,768 1-25 23,862 Community training has suffered severely during the war and is only now beginning to recover. Centres for training can exist only in populated districts ; many were in evacuation areas and in towns which suffered heavily during the various phases of air warfare. Some closed down altogether, some were evacuated with staff and children to residential quarters in the country ; others remained open and carried on through alerts and raids as long as any defectives remained to be cared for. Home training has proved to be a valuable wartime substitute but in towns the advantages lie with centres. The essential part they play is confirmed by the demand for their re-opening made not only by the parents and the public but by the defectives themselves. The following Table shows the pre-war rise in the numbers of centres and numbers on the registers, the subsequent drop and the present slow tendency to recovery. 1st January Centres Clubs On registers 1929 . 121 — U536 1933 . 172 8 3,494 1939 . 178 13 4,244 1940 . 88 4 3U37 I94i . 94 4 2,335 1942 . 90 2 2,164 1943 . 9i 2 1,909 1944 . 88 2 2,298 1945 ••• . 88 2 2,258 1946 . 87 1 2,43i Board’s Evacuation to St. Annes-on-Sea Prior to the outbreak of war it had been decided by the Government that in the event of hostilities certain Departments, among them the Board, should be evacuated to the provinces. Accordingly on the 27th October, 1939, the Board removed to St. Annes-on-Sea, the bulk of its current files being taken to Manchester owing to lack of space for them at St. Annes, an inconvenient arrangement, but inevitable in the circumstances. It was recognised that an office in London would remain a necessity ; and a few rooms were therefore provided for the use of officers visiting London and for the purpose of conferences and interviews with representatives of