§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the existing resources in prisons in England and Wales to encourage prisoners(a) to come off and (b) to remain off drugs. [19952]
§ Mr. MacleanResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
104WLetter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Tox Cox, dated 1 May 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question on the existing resources available in prisons in England and Wales to encourage prisoners to come off and remain off drugs.The Prison Service has identified the reduction of drug misuse in prisons as a strategic priority. All Prison Service establishments provide access to detoxification, education and counselling facilities to prisoners with drug misuse problems through the health care centre, probation department or community drug agencies.The new Prison Service drug strategy will greatly increase the provision of drug treatment programmes by grouping the supply of rehabilitation programmes across several adjacent prisons. Work is already proceeding on developing the most effective treatment programmes by providing additional funding to 13 establishments in the next six months to be followed by a rolling implementation over the next three years.The only data currently available are aggregated from a survey of 130 prisons conducted during December 1994 which showed that 119 prisons provide some form of drug treatment programme. The programmes fall into three main types: individual counselling, group therapy and intensive treatment programmes. At the time of the survey a total of 9 prisons were offering intensive rehabilitation, while 94 offered group treatment programmes and 102 offered individual counselling. A further survey into the details of detoxification treatments in prisons is planned for May.