HC Deb 19 December 1990 vol 183 cc241-2W
Mr. Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement about the review of services for mentally disordered offenders.

Mr. Dorrell

A review of health and social services for mentally disordered offenders is being undertaken jointly by the Department and the Home Office. We have appointed a steering committee, whose terms of reference areTo plan, co-ordinate and direct a review of the Health and social services provided in England by the NHS, Special Hospitals Service Authority, and local authorities for mentally disordered offenders (and others requiring similar services without having come before the courts), with a view to determining whether changes are needed in the current level, pattern, or operation of services and identifying ways of promoting such changes, having regard to: the development of new management arrangements in the NHS and the proposals for the development of community care; the implications for NHS forensic psychiatry of action to follow up the report of the Home Office Efficiency Scrutiny on the Prison Medical Service; any relevant recommendations of the inquiry into the Strangeways prison disturbances (the Woolf Inquiry and other prison-related inquiries); and including consideration of: present arrangements for funding services and service developments, and their possible improvement; relevant research studies. To produce regular reports to the Department of Health and the Home Office on the progress of the review and its findings, together with its recommendations. The review will be essentially concerned with assessing how services should be developed within the framework of existing legislation. It is not intended as a review of the law. However, the steering committee may propose amendments to the law if it considers that they would materially further the longer-term objectives of the review.

The following have been appointed to membership of the steering committee:

  • Dr. J. L. Reed (Senior Principal Medical Officer, Department of Health) (Chairman)
  • Mr. R. Baxter (Grade 5, Home Office) (Joint Secretary)
  • Professor R. S. Bluglass (Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Birmingham)
  • Miss E. A. Crowther (Director of Social Services, City of London)
  • Mr. A. J. Davies (Director of Operations, Special Hospitals Service Authority)
  • Mr. A. H. Fender (Director of Strategic Planning, Wessex Regional Health Authority)
  • Professor J. Gunn (Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry)
  • Mr. P. R. Herring (Director of Finance, St. Helens and Knowsley Hospital Trust)
  • Mr. I. Jewesbury (Grade 5, Department of Health) (Joint Secretary)
  • Mr. L. R. Joyce (Unit General Manager, Mental Illness Care Group, Newcastle Health Authority)
  • Dr. J. O'Grady (Consultant Psychiatrist, Newcastle Health Authority)
  • Mr. E. Packer (Clerk to Wimbledon Magistrates)
  • Mr. J. Parry (Senior Nurse Manager, Regional Forensic Services, Mersey Regional Health Authority)
  • Mr. G. W. Smith (Chief Probation Officer, Inner London Probation Service)
  • Mr. J. G. Smith (Assistant Chief Inspector, Social Services Inspectorate)
  • Mr. J. Tait (Principal Nursing Officer, Department of Health)
  • Dr. Pamela M. Taylor (Director of Medical Services, Special Hospitals Service Authority)
  • Dr. Rosemary Wool (Director, Prison Medical Service)

Discussions are in progress with the police and prison services about how those interests might be represented.

The committee will begin its work early in the new year.

The review is due to be completed by mid-1992.