§ Ms Roseanna CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy of the Prison Service in respect of prisoners who enter custody with existing methadone prescriptions; and to what extent the implementation of this policy varies between prisons in England and Wales. [50251]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe Prison Service health care standard for the management of opiate misusers calls for abstinence to be achieved wherever possible. The standard does, however, allow for the provision of methadone maintenance for those remand prisoners who are already on maintenance treatment and require its continuation.
The Prison Service will begin actively to monitor the implementation of its health care standards from September 1998 and information about the extent to which the implementation varies across the prison estate will become available after that.