Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on publishing a health and justice plan; what the timetable is for publishing that plan; and which (a) Government departments, (b) arms-length bodies and (c) external stakeholders are involved in publishing that plan.

The health and justice partners include: Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHSE/I, and Public Health England (PHE). In English prisons, this relationship has been formally set out in the National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare in England, which has been in place since April 2018. Its associated workplan sets out a detailed programme of work, agreed by health and justice partners, to deliver safe, decent, effective healthcare for offenders.

Changes in Ministers in both Departments over the past six months, followed by the General Election, means we have been reconsidering how we best deliver our objectives in this area.

In order to improve health outcomes and tackle the root causes of offending it is essential we take a whole system approach to healthcare provision for people in the criminal justice system. The Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care are continuing to work together and with partners to articulate a coherent picture of how healthcare is delivered throughout the criminal justice pathway, from the point of arrest through to release.