§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what control and restraint training is given to nurses working in prisons in England and Wales. [34081]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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. Tom Cox, dated 17 July 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your Question about what control and restraint training is given to nurses working in prisons in England and Wales.The policy is that all new entrant nurses should receive initial control and restraint training at their prison establishment during the first weeks of their induction programme into the Prison Service. In addition, provision exists for centrally organised training in the security/control elements of prison nursing at the Prison Service College. The training is to the same standard as that applied to new entrant prison officers. Since February 1993, when the training policy came into effect, 296 nurses have completed the course and a further 75 are due to be trained by April 1996.