§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a full account of the steps he has 379W and is taking to transfer mentally disordered persons from prison to hospital.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe Home Office maintains close contact with the Department of Health and Social Security, and makes every effort to effect the transfer of prisoners whom prison medical officers report as being in need of treatment in hospital. My hon. Friend knows from the replies given on 8 November 1978 and 16 January 1979 to his earlier questions on this subject that it is intended to carry out research to identify with more precision the numbers and characteristics of such prisoners.—[Vol. 957, c. 181–2; Vol. 960, c. 629.]