HC Deb 19 July 1988 vol 137 cc570-1W
Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to encourage the courts to use the existing provisions in the Mental Health Act 1983 to enable mentally disturbed persons to be taken into the health system rather than the penal system.

Mr. John Patten

"The Sentence of the Court", a handbook for the courts on the treatment of offenders, copies of which are in the Library, describes the courts' powers when dealing with mentally disordered offenders. We are considering whether further guidance to the courts, and other criminal justice services, would be helpful.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made towards obtaining a psychiatric profile of the prison population and to work up options for the development of arrangements for the care and management of mentally disturbed inmates, as recommended by the interdepartmental working group on mentally disturbed offenders.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Progress is as follows. On 31 October 1987 a contract was entered into with the institute of psychiatry, university of London, to produce over a three-year period a definitive statement of the dimensions of the problem of sentenced mentally disordered offenders in the prison system. The research team is on target with their schedule of visits to prison establishments.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has instructed the prison epartment to give mental disturbance equal recognition with other factors such as age, type of sentence, and security category in the routine allocation of persons given a custodial sentence.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Behaviour and medical, including psychiatric, needs are given full weight along with the other factors mentioned in allocating sentenced prisoners to training establishments.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the proportion of the inmates of Her Majesty's prisons on remand who are mentally disturbed.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

At 30 September 1987 it was 1.73 per cent. This is calculated on the basis of the remand population of 10,837 on that date, and returns from prison medical officers which showed that there were then 188 unsentenced inmates considered to be suffering from mental disorder of a type or degree such that they would be detainable under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the improvements in the handling of cases of mentally disturbed prisoners by the prison department and the prison service, which were recommended in paragraph 2, sub-paragraphs (vi) to (xi) of the report of the interdepartmental working group on mentally disturbed offenders in the prison system in England and Wales, have now been implemented.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

Yes. Recommendations (vi) to (xi) refer to administrative procedures for the transfer of mentally disordered inmates to hospital. In sending copies of the report to all managing medical officers in prison service establishments the director of prison medical services drew attention to those in which they are able to make a contribution, particularly in the prompt initiation of transfer procedures when that course is clinically indicated. The Department is monitoring carefully its performance in handling transfer applications submitted by prison medical officers.