§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the hospitals attached to prisons for which he is responsible; whether he will give the dates on which they were last inspected in respect of food hygiene; and whether the person responsible for any such inspection was a qualified environmental health officer.
§ Mr. MellorThere are in-patient facilities at all prison establishments except Castington, Gringley, Morton Hall and Shrewsbury. Food is supplied from the prison kitchen. The serving and associated hygiene arrangements in the inpatient areas are inspected annually by catering managers qualified to undertake hygiene inspections in accordance with the requirements of the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations 1970. Random checks are also carried out by suitably qualified departmental safety officers and by a qualified environmental health officer of the Department of Health and Social Security. In addition, the prison medical officer carries out a twice-yearly inspection of all aspects of an establishment in the interests of the health and hygiene of the inmates and staff.
Information as to when each facility was last inspected is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.