Prisoners (Hansard, 27 April 2004)

§ Mrs. Gillan
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in 2003 began training, education or offender behaviour programmes but were unable to complete these courses due to(a) transfer to another establishment and (b) release from custody. [168028]

§ Paul Goggins
In 2003 approximately 8,300 prisoners began accredited offending behaviour programmes. Of the 6,946 commencements of general offending behaviour programmes—Enhanced Thinking Skills and Reasoning and Rehabilitation—95 prisoners (1.4 per cent.) did not complete because they were transferred and 16 (0.2 per cent.) did not complete because they were released. The percentage of prisoners not completing other accredited programmes for these reasons would have been similar or lower.
Equivalent information on non-completion is not collected centrally for prisoners' training and education.
938W

§ John Mann
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were assessed as having drug-related problems on(a) entry to and (b) exit from each (i) HM Prison Service establishment and (ii) privately run prison establishment since January 2003. [168206]

§ Paul Goggins
Figures on the number of prisoners assessed on entry as having a drug-related problem are not recorded centrally, but epidemiological studies show around 54 per cent. of new receptions to be problematic drug misusers and that around 80 per cent. of prisoners had used drugs at some point before coming into custody. All prisoners receive a healthcare assessment on reception. This resulted in detoxification being provided to 50,701 prisoners in 2002–03, 4,085 of whom were in the contracted estate.
All prisons employ drug counselling, assessment, referral and throughcare (CARATs) teams, who, among other tasks, are responsible for putting problematic drug using prisoners in touch with community support on leaving prison. CARATs teams dealt with 52,000 prisoners in 2002–03 at all stages in their sentence.
No separate assessment of drug-related problems is made at the point offenders leave prisons. There will always be a heightened risk of relapse on return to the community and a key aim of the Criminal Justice Interventions Programme is to strengthen continuity of treatment and reduce that risk.