HC Deb 28 July 1980 vol 989 cc490-2W
Mr. Beith

asked the Attorney-General what is the normal period for which items of pornographic material are loaned to mental hospitals by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Solicitor-General

The normal period for which the Director has made such loans has been for so long as the applicant is responsible for the treatments for which the loans were made at the designated medical centre where they were carried out.

Mr. Beith

asked the Attorney-General if he will review his policy in allowing the Director of Public Prosecutions to continue to supply pornographic material to hospitals approved for the purpose by the Department of Health and Social Security, when none of the material supplied during the last year has so far been used in the treatment of any patient and no records are kept of the use made of material still held on loan from previous years.

The Solicitor-General

The Director has his policies under continuous review and will have particular regard to the points raised by the hon. Member in his current consideration of the policy.

Dr. Mawhinney

asked the Attorney-General, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) on 20 June, if he will list the 10 hospitals where individual medical practitioners receive pornographic material on loan from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Solicitor-General

The 10 hospitals at which there are practitioners to whom loans are outstanding are:

  1. 1. Royal Army Medical College, London
  2. 2. Bethlem Royal and Maudsley, London
  3. 3. Guys, London
  4. 4. Broadmoor, Berks
  5. 5. Herrison, Dorset
  6. 6. Moss Side, Liverpool
  7. 7. Park Day, Liverpool
  8. 8. Park Lane, Liverpool
  9. 9. Hellingly, Sussex
  10. 10. Knowle, Hants

Dr. Mawhinney

asked the Attorney-General what are the conditions governing loans of pornographic material by the Director of Public Prosecutions to medical practitioners in psychiatric hospitals.

The Solicitor-General

The conditions are:

  1. 1. That the application receives the approval of the DHSS.
  2. 2. That the applicant is the person primarily responsible at the designated centre for the assessment or treatment in question.
  3. 3. That such material is specifically required for the assessment or treatment of particular patients for whom the applicant is responsible, and that material of a like kind already in the possession of the applicant or available from other sources is inadequate for the purpose.
  4. 4. That an undertaking has been given by the applicant:
    1. (a) that the material will be kept and used only at the designated centre and solely for the purposes stated in the application; and
    2. (b) that it will not be used by a person not under the supervision of the applicant or copied without the permission of the Director.
  5. 5. That the applicant has agreed to assume personal responsibility for the safe custody and proper cataloguing of the material, and for its return to the Director on request or when the applicant ceases to be primarily responsible for such assessments or treatment at the designated centre.

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