Prison Medical Service (Hansard, 18 February 1997)

§ Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the expenditure on the prison medical service from each year since 1990(a) in

	1990–91	1991–92	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96
Estimated expenditure £ million (1994–95 prices)	54.764	58.217	58.403	58.215	59.269
Average per inmate	0.00123	0.00129	0.00133	0.00127	0.00120

516W

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 18 February 1997: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the costs and duration of contracts for prison escort services. The information requested is shown in the table attached. This relates only to those contracts for the movement of prisoners to and from court. Contracts for the provision of vehicles and drivers for other prisoner movements under the escort of prison officers are let locally by each establishment and details could only be collected at disproportionate cost.

cash terms, (b) in standard price terms based on the current year and (c) in cash and standard prices per head of the prison population; and what is the planned expenditure for future years under the same headings. [15234]

§ Miss Widdecombe

Responsibility 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.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 18 February 1997: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about expenditure on the prison medical service each year since 1990 and how much we plan to spend in future years. Expenditure on health care has been devolved to prison establishments. Governors allocate appropriate resources from within their establishment budgets, to ensure that health care is delivered to prisoners in accordance with set standards. For this reason it is not possible accurately to differentiate health care staff costs from the overall Prison Service budget nor to forecast precise future expenditure. Estimated expenditure for health care for the years 1990/91–1994/95 (the last year for which such an estimate was made) are set out in the attached table. The figures given are at 1994/95 prices.