§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, 27 January,Official Report, column 769–70, on how many occasions local authority environmental health officers have been called in to prisons to provide assistance and expertise in tracing the source of food poisoning; and to which prisons they were called.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggSince 1984, local authority environmental health officers have been called in to prison service establishments on seven occasions to provide assistance and expertise in tracing the source of food poisoning.
The establishments involved were:
- 1984—Her Majesty's Prison, Leeds
- 1985—Her Majesty's Prison, Leeds
- 1987—Her Majesty's Prison, Wakefield
- 1988—Her Majesty's Prison, Cardiff
- Her Majesty's Prison, Rudgate
- Her Majesty's Prison, Lincoln
- 1989—Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute,
- Hollesley Bay Colony
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South, 27 January,Official Report, column 769–70, he will consider requesting the help of local authority environmental health officers in order to prevent food poisoning outbreaks as well as to investigate them.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggWe are satisfied that formal hygiene inspections of prison catering facilities by Home Office health and safety officers and Home Office supply and transport catering branch are of a standard comparable to those carried out by local authority environmental health officers. Home Office inspectors have considerable knowledge and experience of food hygiene problems associated with large scale catering operations. Their standards are monitored by random validation inspections undertaken by an environmental health officer from the Department of Health.
Prison governors and medical officers have authority to invite local authority environmental health officers to visit their establishment in an informal advisory capacity should they consider this appropriate.
There are no plans to change existing arrangements at present.