§ Mr. TruswellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the provision of services for offenders diagnosed as having both mental health and substance misuse problems. [59699]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe Prison Service is committed to improving services for prisoners with mental health problems who do not meet the criteria for transfer to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983. A joint Prison Service/National Health Service Executive working group has considered ways of increasing the NHS input to services for prisoners with mental health problems. The Government will consider the working group's report and recommendations very carefully.
Prison Medical Officers are encouraged to establish links with their catchment area psychiatric units to enable the assessment of mentally disordered prisoners and, if appropriate, their transfer to psychiatric hospital. The number of prisoners transferred under the 1983 Act has risen from 325 in 1990 to 745 in 1997.
The Prison Service is to be allocated an extra £76 million over the next three financial years to help implement its drugs strategy. This will allow a major expansion of drug treatment services. It will also deliver the Government's manifesto commitment on voluntary testing and improve throughcare arrangements for drug misusers.
Drug Treatment and Testing Orders were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The aim of the orders is to provide effective treatment in the community, with rigorous testing to evaluate an offender's progress. Pilots have started in three probation service areas and funding of £1.75m has been provided for these pilots, which will run until March 2000. In addition, probation services are being encouraged to contribute from existing resources to partnership work with other agencies to address the problems of other drug misusing offenders under their supervision.