§ Mr. StinchcombeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the current waiting times for persons who need a secure bed in a psychiatric unit in England; [51753]
(2) what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of secure beds available in psychiatric units in England; [51751]
(3) how many secure beds are available in psychiatric units in England; [51752]
(4) how many of the secure beds available in psychiatric units in England are currently occupied. [51750]
§ Mr. BoatengIn 1992 the Department carried out a "Review of Health and Social Services for Mentally Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring a Similar Service". This recognised that the provision of secure places is an important part of the strategy to meet the needs of mentally disordered offenders, and gave added impetus to the Glancy report (1974) which proposed a target of 1,000 medium secure places nationally.
Between 1991 and 1995 the Department invested over £47 million in a capital programme with the aim of developing 1,250 purpose-built medium secure places in the National Health Service. The programme is now almost complete and the target of 1,000 places nationally has been met. This programme has also been supported by the NHS regions.
744WCurrently there are 1,504 medium secure places and 1,070 low secure places in England, making a total of 2,574 beds. This does not include the high security hospitals. Information on the number of places occupied and on waiting times for secure beds is not available centrally.