| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Mar 2009 : Column 180W—continued
These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
Figures on absconds and a range of other prison performance statistics are available at:
Police Custody
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what offences prisoners placed in police and court cells under Operation Safeguard had been convicted. [264711]
Mr. Straw:
Under current arrangements both convicted and remand prisoners can be held over night under Operation Safeguard and court cells. Police cells under
Operation Safeguard have not been used to house prisoners since 22 September 2008 and court cells have not been used since 28 February 2008.
A list of specific offences that prisoners had been convicted of, or charged with, is not held centrally. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
However (as per Prison Service Instruction 30/2006) every effort is made to avoid the use of police and court cells for certain categories of prisoner including:
prisoners with a crown court trial in progress (including those from the Court of Appeal);
all category A prisoners including potential category A prisoners (a prisoner whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or the police or the security of the state and for whom the aim must be to make escape impossible).
Police Custody: Food
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the daily expenditure per prisoner on meals for prisoners held in police and court cells in each year since 2003. [264713]
Mr. Straw: Under an agreement between NOMS and ACPO there is an upper limit to the amount the police may charge for the provision of meals for prisoners held overnight in police cells under Operation Safeguard. Forces may be paid up to £12 for each prisoner over a 24-hour period. Only under exceptional circumstances can this figure be exceeded.
NOMS is invoiced by police forces in arrears for the use of cells activated under Operation Safeguard. NOMS also receives invoices in arrears from contractors for use of court cells.
Expenditure on meals provided for prisoners held in police and court cells is not readily available from invoices submitted. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Prisoners: Mentally Ill
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of the prison population with one or more mental health condition, broken down by condition; and if he will make a statement. [264719]
Mr. Hanson:
The Government have commissioned my noble Friend, Lord Keith Bradley to carry out a review on offenders with mental health and learning
disability problems. There is a Government commitment to publishing the Bradley review report during April 2009.
The most recent estimates for mental health of the prisoner population of England and Wales come from Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR), from 2005-06. There is also an older Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (PMS) among prisoners (1997). There is a measure of comparability across relevant results from the two surveys.
Across the two surveys, the range of prevalence rates for any functional psychosis was between 7 per cent. and 9 per cent. for sentenced males, and 14 per cent. and 18 per cent. for sentenced females.
Also across the two surveys, the range of prevalence rates for any personality disorder was between 62 per cent. and 64 per cent. for sentenced males, and 57 per cent. and 59 per cent. for sentenced females.
Figures for neurotic conditions such as anxiety and depression were not obtained in the same way in the two surveys. Focusing just on the more recent SPCR figures (using the Maudsley Addiction Profile), and using a threshold of six symptoms, 34 per cent. of sentenced male prisoners and 56 per cent. of sentenced female prisoners were appreciably affected by anxiety/depression and other neurotic conditions.
Neither set of survey results has been translated from percentage figures into estimates of numbers of prisoners.
Further information on the results of these two surveys can be found in the published reports. These are, for SPCR, “The Problems and Needs of Newly Sentenced Prisoners: Results from a National Survey” Ministry of Justice Research Series 16/08 (2008). For PSM: “Psychiatric Morbidity among Prisoners in England and Wales: Summary Report” (ONS, 1998).
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of the prison population have been held in (a) NHS and (b) independent sector mental healthcare places in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [264720]
Mr. Hanson: Centrally held information is not available to answer all parts of the question posed. The annual statistical bulletin on mentally disordered offenders for England and Wales over the last 10 years for which figures are available gives the number of mentally disordered offenders admitted to hospital from prison, detained in hospital following transfer from prison and transferred back to prison from hospital (while un-sentenced and after sentencing) are shown in the following table.
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
These figures are drawn from tables 2, 6 and 9 of “Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2007: England and Wales”, which can be downloaded from:
It is not possible to differentiate between those held in NHS and independent sector mental health care places.
Prisons: Cleaning Services
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of centrally-managed prison laundry services was in 2007-08. [264668]
Mr. Straw: While operating within an overall strategic and policy framework laundries within the public Prison Service are not managed centrally, running costs having been devolved to establishment level some years ago. As a result, relatively little information about operating costs is held centrally. To collect this information from each establishment would attract disproportionate cost.
In 2007-08, Prison Industries Headquarters allocated funding to establishments for industrial laundry materials and maintenance to the value of £783,500. A further £376,000 was allocated for capital plant replacement.
In 2007-08 there were 43 industrial laundries together with a significant number of local launderettes.
Prisons: Food
Paul Holmes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the daily
expenditure per prisoner on prison meals in each year since 2003. [264712]
Mr. Hanson: The average public sector Prison Service daily food expenditure per prisoner in England and Wales since 2003-04 to 2007-08 (latest available data) is set out in the table.
Individual governors of public sector prisons have had the authority to set their own catering budgets since 1994 and there is no set financial formula that prisons are required to follow when setting establishment food budgets. Governors make choices on the budget allocated to food based on a variety of issues including the prisoner population and the type of regime.
Average expenditure per prisoner includes all food and beverage requirements. Prisons provide breakfast, midday and evening meal and a supper snack together with all condiments and beverages. Menu requirements vary between establishments and are based on consumer preferences, local regimes and seasonal availability.
| Financial year | Average public sector Prison Service daily food expenditure per prisoner( 1) (£) |
| (1 )The daily food cost has been calculated using available management information from the Prison Service finance systems and assumes that all transactions have been allocated and recorded against the correct accounting codes. | |
| Index | Home Page |