§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent to which mentally ill and mentally handicapped people are in prison as a result of under-provision of community care facilities.
Mr. HoggI refer the hon. Member to earlier replies given to questions from the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) on 20 March at columns405–7. These gave details of studies at present taking place on the profile of mentally disordered offenders in the prison system and on the use made by the courts of hospital and restriction orders when sentencing mentally disordered offenders. When a court considers that an offender needs psychiatric treatment but not to be detained in a hospital, it may make a probation order with a requirement that the probationer undergoes psychiatric treatment, or it may make a guardianship order, which places the offender under the authority of a local authority social services department or approved person. The guardian may then require the patient to live at a specified place and attend a place for treatment. The availability of care facilities in the local community is only one of a range of factors which courts have to consider when deciding on the most suitable sentence for such an offender.