§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will seek a report into the extent of the connection between the refusal of the prison medical service to treat drug-addicted prisoners with methadone treatment and the spread of the AIDS virus in prisons through the sharing of heroin needles; and if she will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydI have been asked to reply.
Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 11 May 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about methadone treatment in the Prison Service.Current guidance on the use of methadone in the Prison Service is set out in "Caring for Drug Users: A Multi-disciplinary Resource for People Working with Prisoners" and Circular Instruction 12/1991. Copies of these are available in the Library of the House. The guidance recommends the use of a methadone detoxification programme for prisoners addicted to opiates although individual decisions on the use of methadone are a matter for the clinical judgement of the doctor concerned.