§ Sir John WheelerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is being taken by the prison service to reduce the level of suicide and self-injury by prisoners.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe prison service's policies in this complex and important area were recently described in an information paper, "Caring for prisoners at risk of suicide and self-injury: the way forward", which was published on 20 August 1992. I have today arranged for a copy of the paper to be placed in the Library of the House. The paper outlines in detail the measures being taken across the prison service as a whole and gives examples of some local schemes. I very much support the efforts being made by the580W prison staff, working in partnership with voluntary agencies and increasingly with prisoners themselves, to tackle the problems associated with suicide and self-injury.