HC Deb 03 July 1996 vol 280 cc440-1W
Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to minimise the spread of hepatitis B and C in prisons in England and Wales. [35441]

Miss Widdecombe

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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Neil Gerrard, dated 3 July 1996:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about steps being taken to minimise the spread of hepatitis B and C in prisons in England and Wales.

Hepatitis is a notifiable disease and acute cases of hepatitis are notified to the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control who provides advice on the management of cases and of outbreaks.

Multidisciplinary HIV teams set up in prison establishments are in the process of receiving further training to orientate them to the other communicable diseases which are important in the prison context. These teams are to be proactive in implementing communicable disease education and prevention programmes at a local level. HIV counsellors in prison are also receiving further training to orientate their skills to prevention of these other communicable diseases, including hepatitis.

Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in England and Wales currently have hepatitis B or C. [35440]

Miss Widdecombe

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 Richard Tilt to Mr. Neil Gerrard, dated 3 July 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question on how many prisoners in England and Wales currently have cases of hepatitis B or C. Provisional figures from 126 establishments indicate that on the 31 April 1996 the following numbers of inmates were known to have hepatitis:

Number
Acute Heptatis B 6
Chronic Hepatitis B 53
Hepatitis B with surface antigen positive 29
Acute Hepatitis C 24
Chronic Hepatitis C 153