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18 Dec 2002 : Column 841W—continued
Drug Addicts
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision is in place to support drug addicts on their release from prison; what information is passed to drug treatment agencies when a drug addict is released into their home community; and if drug addicts are tracked on release from prison to facilitate treatment. [87835]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 17 December 2002]: All prisons have a Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare service (CARAT), which seeks to put in place care plans for prisoners, which should identify need for throughcare on release. Prisoners serving sentences of 12 months or less can receive support from CARATs. Prior to release, CARATs will warn of the dangers associated with loss of tolerance in prison and will try to establish a link with a community drug service. When this is not achieved, CARATs will provide a degree of support, where practical, for up to eight weeks after release.
Prisoners serving sentences in excess of 12 months are routinely subject to supervision by the National Probation Service. CARAT workers will advise a supervising probation officer of any continuing, post-release drug treatment needs and will request the establishment of a link with a community drug agency. A prisoner's progress will be monitored until the expiry of the supervision period.
As outlined in the Government's updated Drug Strategy 2002, published on 3 December 2002, the Home Office, alongside the National Treatment Agency, the National Probation Directorate and the Prison Service is working to improve the availability and quality of community support for ex-prisoners with drug problems and to ensure that an effective infrastructure is in place to bridge the gap between prison and community.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of the number of drug addicts in (a) Hampshire and (b) England in each year since 1997. [87841]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 17 December 2002]: Estimating numbers of drug addicts is very difficult and figures are not available for Hampshire or England for the years requested. The latest estimates for the number of Class A problem drug users in England and Wales range from 281,125 to 506,025. The first of these figures is closest to previously reported estimates. These figures come from a Home Office study entitled: XThe Economic and Social Costs of Class A drug use in England and Wales, 2000". Copies of this publication will be placed in the Library.
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Local figures are only available for those people with drug problems who have recently started drugs treatment. The most recent figures cover from 1 October 2000 to 31 March 2001. These show that for Portsmouth and South East Hampshire, Southampton and South West Hampshire health authorities a total of 501 people had entered treatment. Data are not available for the years requested.
Female Convictions
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women have been convicted for (a) violent and (b) non-violent offences in each of the last five years. [86641]
Hilary Benn: The information requested is given in the table.
| Violent offences(3) | Other offences | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3,829 | 213,308 |
| 1998 | 4,234 | 231,344 |
| 1999 | 4,073 | 215,907 |
| 2000 | 4,214 | 251,804 |
| 2001 | 4,111 | 233,511 |
(3) Violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery
Long Lartin (Tree Preservation Orders)
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers his Department has to ignore tree preservation orders imposed by Wychavon district council on trees on land adjacent to Long Lartin prison; and if he will make a statement. [86917]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 12 December 2002]: With the exception of one tree which is in a dangerous condition, the Prison Service has no plans to remove trees on land adjacent to Her Majesty's Prison Long Lartin for which planning applications have recently been submitted.
Paul Burrell/Harold Brown
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of the police investigations relating to (a) Paul Burrell and (b) Harold Brown; and if he will make a statement. [86186]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 10 December 2002]: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has informed me that the cost of the police investigations relating to both (a) Paul Burrell and (b) Harold Brown was, in total, approximately #310,000,00. It is not possible to distinguish separately the costs for each investigation.
Prisoner Age (Wymott and Garth Prisons)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inmates are held in (a) Garth and (b) Wymott Prisons; and how many are over the age of (i) 65, (ii) 70, (iii) 75 and (iv) 80. [87027]
Hilary Benn: On 31 October 2002 (the latest data available) there were 652 persons held in Garth prison. Of these five were over the age of 65, one was over the age of 70, and there were none over the age of 75.
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On the same date there were 821 persons held in Wymott prison. Of these 28 were over the age of 65, nine were over the age of 70, three were over the age of 75 and one was over 80 years old.
Prisons
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to reduce the number of suicides in prison. [87475]
Hilary Benn: The general prison population contains a large number of prisoners with a combination of psychiatric disorders, alcohol and drug dependency, family background and relationship problems, histories of self-harm and previous abuse, all of which raise their risk of suicide. Good care and support from staff saves many lives but such instances go largely unreported. The current operating environment is very challenging because an increased prisoner population and movement of prisoners puts a strain on resources and makes it harder to prevent suicides. The Prison Service's approach, in close partnership with outside organisations such as Samaritans, better identify and support those who seem at greatest risk with an approach that focuses on relationships, processes and the physical environment.
The Prison Service's suicide prevention and self-harm reduction programme includes a series of inter-related projects to improve pre-reception, reception and induction arrangements; inter-agency information exchange; prisoner care; detoxification; prisoner peer support, and the learning from investigations into deaths in custody.
Piloting of these projects is focused on six establishments—Wandsworth, Feltham, Eastwood Park, Leeds, Winchester and Birmingham—although others are involved in aspects of the work. An investment of #21.69 million over the three year programme from April 2001 is allowing physical improvements to be made at these six sites, for example to reception and induction areas, and through the installation of more first night centres, safer cells, crisis suites and gated cells that enable staff to watch at-risk prisoners closely. The programme will be subject to an independent quantitative and qualitative evaluation. No resources have at present been allocated to work beyond April 2004.
Thirty full-time suicide prevention co-ordinators (SPCs) were trained and located in the most high risk establishments, and a further 99 mostly part-time SPCs are now operating across the estate. There has been a continuing increase in the numbers of prisoner XListeners" being recruited in high-risk establishments,
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with 608 new Listeners recruited within these establishments between 1 October 2001 and 31 March 2002 alone, and further recruitment and training taking place.
Concurrently, new health care screening procedures have been piloted at 10 establishments and are to be rolled out across the estate. Wing staff will be increasingly supported in their work by in-reach mental health teams and by the establishment where possible of dedicated drug detoxification units.
Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in the period from 28 September 2001 to 27 September 2002, how many inmates of (a) HMP North Sea Camp, (b) HMP Leyhill, (c) HMP Stanford Hill and (d) HMP Kirkham were transferred to closed conditions for breach of the conditions of their community visit or facilities licences; how many of those inmates were subsequently charged with an offence against discipline under Prison Rule 51 Paragraph 8 in connection with the breach and what the licence conditions were that were breached in each case; how many inmates were not charged with an offence under Prison Rule 51 Paragraph 8, but were nevertheless transferred because they were deemed to have behaved inappropriately while on temporary release; what the nature of the inappropriate behaviour was in each case; what conditions of his community visit or facility licence Lord Archer was held to have breached that resulted in his transfer from HMP North Sea Camp to HMP Lincoln on 27 September; and whether he was charged with an offence against discipline in respect of those breaches. [87646]
Hilary Benn: The information requested is not held centrally and I shall write to the hon. Member when it is available.
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