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12 Oct 2009 : Column 729W—continued
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the membership is of the national programme board responsible for developing a national approach to mental health and learning disability services for offenders; [290192]
(2) whether the Government have accepted in full the recommendation to establish a national advisory group, made in Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. [290325]
Phil Hope: The membership of the national health and criminal justice programme board is as follows:
| Name | Organisation |
The Government have fully accepted Lord Bradley's recommendation that a national advisory group be established to support Ministers and the health and criminal justice programme board in their development of this agenda. The cross-departmental national health and criminal justice programme board has been fully operational since June 2009 and alongside officials, has been developing arrangements for the set up of the national advisory group. The membership of the national advisory group is currently being agreed by Ministers and will be confirmed shortly.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken since the publication of Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system to increase the rate of transfer of prisoners with severe mental illnesses from prison to secure hospital settings; and if he will make a statement. [290243]
Phil Hope: The Government recognise the importance of ensuring that prisoners with severe mental illness who require treatment in hospital have timely access to that treatment. The Government's response of 30 April 2009 to Lord Bradley's Report accepted in principle the direction in respect of 14-day prison transfers.
The Government are considering the feasibility of introducing a 14-day transfer standard. A specific project to address prison transfers has been established, this is focusing on the provision of guidance and support to the national health service and criminal justice system to ensure transfers happen both smoothly and as quickly as possible. The Government will make a further report to Parliament in the autumn.
Mental Health Services: Young People
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bed days were recorded for patients aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 years on adult psychiatric wards in each quarter of the last three years. [291934]
Phil Hope: It is not possible to disaggregate the figures for 16 and 17-year-olds but the following table gives the number of 16 to 17-year olds in England who were treated on adult psychiatric wards in each quarter for the past three years.
| Quarter | Bed days-16/17s on psychiatric adult ward | |
This represents a 52 per cent. decrease between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2009.
Mental Health: Prisoners
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners diagnosed with serious mental illnesses since July 2000; and if he will make a statement. [290011]
Phil Hope: Although there are no officially recognised data on prisoners with severe mental illness, we are aware that there is a significant number of people in custody suffering from serious mental illness. A review of mental health in reach teams for the National Institute for Health Research in 2008 suggested that around 23 per cent., of the prison population suffer from severe mental illness.
The Government will be publishing its response to Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities in the criminal justice system in the autumn as part of a wider ranging offender health strategic delivery plan. This response will include the Government's plans for improving mental health care for prisoners.
Methadone: Prisoners
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to suspend methadone prescriptions for prisoners in prisons where the drug rehabilitation programme is based on abstinence. [291958]
Phil Hope: No. In line with the National Treatment Agency guidance, when matching treatment to individual need, both treatment (such as methadone prescription) and drug rehabilitation programmes might be appropriate depending on the needs of the individual at a given time and it would not be appropriate therefore to exclude one form of treatment at the expense of another.
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations took place on the introduction of methadone prescriptions for prisoners. [291959]
Phil Hope: Since at least 1995 methadone has been recommended as one of a number of possible treatments for the management of drug dependence in prison.
The current clinical guidelines are "Clinical Management of Drug Dependence in the Adult Prison Setting" which was published in December 2006, a copy of which has been placed in the Library. The document aimed to address the current challenges facing the care and treatment of substance misusers in prisons including: the need to provide clinical interventions that harmonise with practice in community and other criminal justice settings, meet the individual's need and address the vulnerability of drug-using prisoners to suicide and self-harm in prison, and to death upon release from custody due to accidental opiate overdose.
The document was developed in consultation with key Government Departments, professional organisations, commissioning organisations and service providers including:
HM Prison Service;
Department of Health;
Home Office;
National Treatment Agency;
National Addiction Centre;
National Offender Management Service Drug Strategy Unit;
Prison Officers Association;
Royal College of Psychiatrists; and
Royal College of General Practitioners.
The 2007 "Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management" a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, contains specific information on the clinical management of drug dependence in prisons as a specific setting and is in line with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines "Drug misuse: psychosocial interventions" (NICE clinical guideline 51) and "Drug misuse: opioid detoxification" (NICE clinical guideline 52).
Midwives: Manpower
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwives were employed in the National Health Service in (a) the Vale of York, (b) North Yorkshire and (c) England in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2008. [291794]
Phil Hope: The numbers of midwives employed in the national health service in York Hospitals NHS Trust, North Yorkshire Primary Care Trusts and NHS Trusts, and England in 2005-2008 are shown in the following table:
| NHS hospital and community health services: Midwives in England, Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority and North Yorkshire Primary Care Trusts and NHS Trusts | ||||
| Headcount as at 30 September each specified year | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce census. | ||||
MMR Vaccine
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of children under the age of five years received two doses of MMR vaccine in each quarter of the last 10 years. [289314]
Gillian Merron: The Health Protection Agency collect and publish quarterly provisional data on the proportion of the population who are vaccinated at five years of age with a second dose of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).
| Percentage of five year olds (England) who have received two doses of MMR | ||||
| Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 | |
| (1 )2005-06-last three quarters and 2006-07 first quarter-national data not estimated due to missing data for 10 of the 31 London primary care trusts (PCTs) due to problems relating to the implementation of new child health IT system. Coverage estimates are always significantly lower in London compared to all other regions in England therefore to calculate an England estimate without these PCTs would have given a spurious increase in coverage. | ||||
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