Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who died as a result of drug misuse in 2015 (a) were serving and (b) had previously served prison sentences in the UK.
Answered by David Lidington
It has not been possible to answer this question in the time allowed. I will write to the honourable member in due course.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many random mandatory drug tests have been undertaken in prisons in England and Wales each of the last six years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The information requested in planned for routine publication by the Ministry of Justice and will be available on www.gov.uk in the NOMS Annual Digest on 27 July 2017.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2017 to Question 64699, whether she plans further to increase the number of prison service staff working on investigations into alleged corruption in prisons.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The vast majority of prison staff undertake their duties with honesty and integrity. But this Government is committed to investigating and eliminating corruption, where it exists, to ensure prisons remain a safe and secure environment for staff, prisoners and visitors.
A dedicated team of officials work to prevent and tackle corruption, and investigate alleged corruption, across prisons and probation. In addition to this, all prisons have an identified Local Corruption Prevention Manager (LCPM), responsible for developing intelligence, raising awareness of corruption prevention and supporting staff to report any corruption related concerns. And, in support of our commitment to tackle this threat, we have just invested an extra £3 million to improve intelligence analysis and searching capability across prisons and probation – this investment will increase our ability to identify and tackle corruption.
A range of measures set out in the recent Prison Safety and Reform White Paper will further bolster our response to driving out corruption in prisons. Our new approach will drive closer working with the police; deliver tougher responses with robust outcomes; and increase support and training for staff. In carrying out this work we will continue to ensure that sufficient resources remain available to tackle the threat now and for the future.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales in 2016 were as a consequence of drug use.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government publishes statistics on deaths in custody quarterly, and updated detailed tables, including the method used in self-inflicted deaths, annually. The most recent figures, covering the whole of 2016, were published on 26 January 2017 and are available on GOV.uk.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who died by suicide in England and Wales in 2016 were known drug users.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) records a range of information about each self-inflicted death in prison, but whether or not the deceased was a drug user is not included within the information that is centrally recorded.
Where a prisoner’s drug use played a part in his or her death this is identified in the investigation by the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman and by the Coroner at the inquest, and NOMS considers and acts on any recommendations that may result.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of levels of suicides in English and Welsh prisons in 2016.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government believes that prisons should be places of safety and reform. The number of self-inflicted deaths is extremely concerning and we are committed to reducing it. Our recent White Paper set out specific steps that we are taking to improve safety. They include investing over £100m to recruit an additional 2,500 staff across the estate by the end of 2018.
We have also provided an additional £10m of new annual funding for prison safety, supplemented by £2.9m from existing budgets. This has given a significant number of governors the opportunity to improve safety levels in their establishments.
The National Offender Management Service is undertaking a suicide and self-harm reduction project, led by an experienced prison governor, which is driving work in this area. The work includes implementing the recommendations of a review of the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, the multi-disciplinary case management process that is the main tool for managing prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm. This includes the roll out of new training that will help improve staff understanding of suicide and self-harm, including a module designed to raise awareness of mental health issues and to equip staff to respond appropriately to prisoners experiencing mental health problems.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information she holds on the number of ambulance call-outs to prisons in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of implications for its policies of the findings of the report of the Howard League, Preventing prison suicide, published on 28 November 2016.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government is committed to making prisons safe. Reducing self-inflicted deaths is a key priority for the Government.
As part of this, providing the right intervention and treatment is vital to improving the outcomes for people who are suffering or otherwise vulnerable. All prisons have established procedures in place to identify, manage and support people with mental health issues or at risk of suicide or self-harm.
But we recognise that more can be done. That is why we have invested in specialist mental health training for prison officers, allocated more funding for prison safety and have launched a suicide and self-harm reduction project to address the increase in self-inflicted deaths and self-harm in our prisons.