Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the identification of mental health needs among people entering the criminal justice system.

We are committed to diverting offenders with mental health, substance misuse, and other vulnerabilities away from prison or out of the criminal justice system altogether, where appropriate.

NHS Liaison and Diversion services identify people who have mental health, learning disability, substance misuse or other vulnerabilities when they first come into contact with the criminal justice system as suspects, defendants or offenders.

Mental health screening also takes place when someone is detained in prison, as set out in the National Health Service service specification for health care in prisons. As part of the formal prisoner induction process, all prisoners must undergo health screening that incorporates a mental health assessment. This is an essential standard under the specification.