§ 11.30 a.m.
§ Baroness Thomas of Walliswoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action is being taken and within what timescale to implement the recommendations of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons regarding HM Prison Eastwood Park for women and young girls, for proper mental healthcare and the prevention of suicides and self-harm.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin)My Lords, all reports from the Chief Inspector of Prisons result in an action plan produced about 30 working days after publication. The plan will respond to all 91 recommendations, including those on mental health, suicide and self-harm. The problems facing Eastwood Park at the time of the inspection are already being dealt with, but longer-term issues such as the extent of mental illness will take some time to overcome.
§ Baroness Thomas of WalliswoodMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. He did not mention that the inreach programme already established by the Government at Eastwood is now being extended to other prisons. I believe that the Government lay stock by that for some reason. Does the Minister agree that that inreach programme has to be accompanied by better training of prison staff to enable them to recognise and deal with psychiatric disorder? Given the long-standing awareness of the problems of psychiatric disorders among prisoners, particularly women prisoners, and especially at Eastwood Park, can he tell us what measures are being taken to rectify what I consider to be the most serious of the criticisms levelled by the chief inspector—namely, the lack of insight and leadership shown both within the prison and beyond it in dealing with the prison's very real problem?
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, the noble Baroness is right on the inreach programme. The Government have a strong commitment to sending NHS multidisciplinary health teams into prisons to try to ensure proper treatment of the very large numbers of prisoners, particularly women prisoners, with mental health problems. I am certain that training prison staff in psychiatric disorders is on the department's training 1489 agenda. Given the prevalence of mental health problems, the issue needs to be a continuing high priority. As for the measures spelled out in the chief inspector's report on Eastwood Park, there were, as has been said, concerns about leadership and the speed shown in dealing with some serious problems. Conversely, the chief inspector also praised the commitment of the staff. It was not a universally gloomy picture. However, my honourable friend the Minister has already raised with the Chief Inspector of Prisons and with the governor and the director general the issue of when action will be taken to remedy the defects identified.
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, in welcoming the Minister to this new bed of nails and wishing him the best of fortune in what will be a hard act to follow, may I ask him whether, when he has time to read the report, he will note how it undermines one's confidence in the general statistics with which one is presented? In particular, paragraph 1.10 says that the inspectors,
were made aware that self reporting of regime monitoring information by staff indicated that exercise was being given, when in actual fact it was not".Therefore, when we are told how many hours a prisoner spends out of cell, we are being misled.Secondly, in paragraph 2.47, at the end of a flattering account of the efforts of outside staff delivering education, we read,
There was not evidence to suggest that the establishment valued or understood the role of education. The lax approach to attendance and punctuality, the cuts in budget, the failure of officers to get student work to the tutors, transferring a woman prisoner elsewhere at critical times in her sentence and course were symptomatic illustrations".Students were not able to do the work in the time that they were supposed to be out of cell doing it.
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Elton, for his generous welcome. I think that both my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer and I recognise that, in the wit and wisdom of my noble friend Lord Rooker, the two of us have a hard act to follow.
I note the data inaccuracies which are a cause for concern. Organisations that feel under crisis pressure do not always treat filling in forms or putting in data as one of their highest priorities. Yet, as the noble Lord points out, such data are crucial if the Government or anyone else are to know what is truly happening in those establishments. I have read the paragraphs, including paragraph 2.47, drawing attention to deficiencies in education and the attitude to education. The Government are concerned about those matters and the Minister has it on the list of issues he is discussing with the director general.
§ Baroness HaymanMy Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Lord on his new responsibilities. Will he give urgent consideration to the Lord Chief Justice's proposal for a special board, analogous to the Youth Justice Board, dealing with women in the criminal justice system? Will he look and 1490 see whether he can speed up government consideration of these proposals, which may well give great help on a matter of justifiably widespread concern?
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, yes, I am indeed aware of the Lord Chief Justice's comments and views on a criminal justice board for women. The issue is receiving attention in the department. I cannot say offhand how quickly matters are progressing, but I shall look into the situation. There are no current or immediate plans to introduce such a board, but the department has announced the establishment of the correctional services board, which will look at 16 to 20-year-olds, initially including women, and then move on to more specific groups.
§ Baroness BuscombeMy Lords. I endorse the welcome to the world of home affairs and the congratulations extended to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office. He started by telling us about this action plan. Is he aware that an earlier inspection report made 112 recommendations, 76 of which have not yet been achieved? Indeed, 55 of the recommendations have not been even partially achieved.
§ Lord FilkinMy Lords, yes, I was aware of that; I read it in the preface to the report with some concern. I am in no sense trying to belittle the importance of or to mitigate those failings, but one should note that the women's prison population, including that of Eastwood Park, has accelerated enormously—by 20 per cent—in recent years. The establishment is therefore under considerable volume pressure. Of course that is not an excuse for not implementing previous reports of the chief inspector.