§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) to what extent prisons provide non-smoking recreation and eating areas; and if he will make a statement;
(2) whether prisoners who do not smoke are required to share cells with those who do;
(3) what action his Department has taken to reduce the amount of tobacco smoking by prisoners in Her Majesty's prisons.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Mackinlay dated 22 April 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to the three Parliamentary Questions on this subject which you tabled for written answer on Wednesday 21 April.Prison Standing Orders require governors to arrange as far as is practicable for non-smokers not to be compelled to share living accommodation with smokers, and for non-smoking areas to be available in visiting accommodation and association rooms as long as this does not reduce access to these areas. Smoking is prohibited in areas where food is being prepared or served. Practice in dining areas is a matter for individual governors.We acknowledge the importance of measures to encourage prisoners who smoke to break the habit and this is reflected in our corporate plan. Medical advice is available in all prisons and structured health education and counselling facilities are increasingly being provided. A new health care standard for clinical and related health promotion services will be introduced later this year which will provide a further stimulus to the promotion of healthier lifestyles. We are also planning a number of pilot projects to develop models for co-ordinated health promotion programmes. I would expect measures to reduce smoking to feature in these.