§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints from inmates about medical care in prisons in England and Wales have been received during the last five years.
§ Mrs. RumboldRecords of the type requested are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However the prison service working group on grievance procedures, which published its report in July last year, produced an estimate of the proportion of complaints received at prison service headquarters which related to medical matters. That estimate produces a figure of around 1,100 medical complaints received in the last year of the old grievance procedures, which were replaced on 25 September this year.
§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish the findings of the research conducted by Professor Gunn into the incidence of mentally disordered inmates in the prison system in England and Wales.
§ Mrs. RumboldProfessor Gunn, Institute of Psychiatry, university of London, was commissioned to produce over a three-year period a definitive statement of the dimensions of the problem of sentenced mentally disturbed offenders in the prison system in England and Wales. This is an important study which will provide a sound basis on which the Department is able to consider the further development of its policies.
The report is expected soon. Following normal practice we intend that once it has then been considered arrangements will be made for its wide dissemination.