§ 27. Mr. David Priceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he proposes to take to provide the courts with suitable alternatives to imprisonment for persistent alcoholics and drug addicts.
§ Mr. BrittanThe full range of non-custodial penal measures available to the courts—including the probation order—can at present be deployed in the sentencing of persons convicted of criminal offences who are alcoholics or drug addicts. The provision of facilities for the treatment outside prison of these conditions as such is not primarily my right hon. Friend's responsibility. Further studies are taking place of possible ways in which petty persistent offenders might be diverted from prison.