§ 32. Mr. van Straubenzeeasked the Minister of Health whether he has yet received the report of the inquiry by the Board of Control into the escape of Leslie Parr from Broadmoor Institution on 1st January, 1960; whether he will make the report public; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Walker SmithYes, Sir. The report, which I do not consider it would be appropriate to publish, deals particularly with the circumstances under which patients should be allowed to work outside the walls of the Institution. Work of this type is an important last step in the rehabilitation of patients for return to the community, but it is of course essential that there should be proper security arrangements. With this in mind, the report recommends
Arrangements have been made to put these recommendations into effect forthwith.
- (1) that no patient should be allowed in future to work inside a private house out of the direct observation of the nurse in charge of him;
946 - (2) that the work done by all outside working parties must be of such character or so arranged as to allow the closest possible supervision of every patient by the nurse in charge;
- (3) that specific written instructions to the above effect be issued to nurses in charge of working parties.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeIn view of the very widespread anxiety which is caused to my constituents when a patient escapes from Broadmoor, may I ask my right hon. and learned Friend whether he realises that what he has said will be received with very wide approval? Would he say whether the report or his consideration covers the effectiveness of the warning siren? Would he also say whether he can give some categorical assurance to counteract the feeling in my constituency that, under the present administration of Broadmoor, where there is a balance of doubt it is given to the patient rather than to the security of those living around the institution?
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI am obliged to my hon. Friend for what he said in the first part of his supplementary question. As to the second part, the present siren is the result of much research and expenditure, and I think that it is the best that can be devised.
As to the third part, as I have told the House before, in these matters we try to keep a fair balance between the interests of security, which are obviously very important, and which my hon. Friend very properly has in mind from the point of view of his constituents, and the interests of rehabilitation, which we also have to pursue under the duty cast upon us in the Health Service. I should like to remind my hon. Friend that there have been outside working parties at Broad-moor for at least 40 years, and that from 1941 to the end of 1959 there were only three escapes from working parties none of which was attended by any danger to the public.
§ Mr. EmeryDoes my right hon. and learned Friend realise that there is concern not only in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. van Straubenzee) but in the whole of Berkshire that an 947 assurance is always given that security will be tightened up after there has been an escape and yet these escapes continue.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI associate my hon. Friend with the tribute which I paid to my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. van Straubenzee) with regard to his zeal for the well-being of his constituents, but we have to keep these things in balance and perspective. As he will see from the figures I have just given, the escapes from the working parties have been very rare and not attended with danger. The working parties are an essential traditional part of the valuable work of rehabilitation.