HC Deb 25 April 2002 vol 384 cc434-6W
Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners have been diagnosed as having a learning difficulty(a) while in prison and (b) prior to sentencing in the last 12 months; [49973]

(2) what educational facilities are provided in each HM Prison in the UK to (a) diagnose and (b) treat prisoners who suffer from specific (i) psychological and (ii) educational disabilities, with particular reference to dyslexia and autism. [49972]

Beverley Hughes

Prisons will form part of a pilot being developed by the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit, which will introduce a greater diagnostic element in the assessment of a prisoner's learning difficulties and disabilities. We know that many offenders have learning difficulties and/or disabilities and we are working with prisons, including young offender institutions, to develop a national policy to support their needs. A working party has been set up to develop an action plan and representatives of the National Autistic Society, the British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Institute have been invited to join the working party. No reliable information is available on the total number of prisoners diagnosed with learning difficulties but new procedures are being developed to capture this kind of information.

Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research he has commissioned into the work of prison visitors and voluntary associates. [49985]

Beverley Hughes

A survey into the nature and extent of the involvement of voluntary sector organisations and volunteers in prison, including prison visitors, was conducted in September 2000. The report will be published shortly.

Mr. Grieve

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many assaults by prisoners on(a) staff, (b) prisoners and (c) other people took place in prisons and resulted in a positive disciplinary adjudication in (i) 1996–97, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) the period since 1 April 2001; how many prisoners and what percentage of the average prison population during each relevant period this represented; and if he will make a statement. [48801]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 15 April 2002]: The number and rate of positive assaults adjudications for the years in question are given in the table.

1996–97 2000–01 2001–021
Assaults on prisoners 2,747 3,282 3,552
Rate of assaults on prisoners (percentage) 4.8 5.1 5.3
Assaults on staff/others 2,531 3,107 3,159
Rate of assaults on staff/others (percentage) 4.5 4.8 4.7
1 Annualised

Figures for 2001–02 are annualised based on positive adjudications to the end of February 2002 and are provisional. The Prison Service does not collect data separately to distinguish between the number of assaults on staff and others, nor the number of individual prisoners charged.

The number of proven adjudications of assault expressed as a proportion of the average prisoner population is a key performance indicator (KPI) for the Prison Service.While the number of assault adjudications has risen recently, all prisons now have an active anti-bullying strategy and there is some evidence that this leads, at least in the short term, to an increase in reported incidents.