Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in February 2016, what progress his Department has made in implementing recommendation 24.

MoJ remains committed to ensuring offenders are able to access appropriate support and treatment throughout the criminal justice pathway, and we are responding to this recommendation in a number of ways.

We continue to support NHS England’s roll out of Liaison and Diversion services, which were operating across 82% of the country at the end of March 2018, with full rollout expected by 2020/21.

We are working with Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Public Health England to develop a protocol for community sentence treatment requirements (CSTRs). This will ensure pathways into appropriate treatment are in place, and that greater use is made of CSTRs, including Mental Health Treatment Requirements. Health is a devolved matter in Wales, where the goal to improve the use of MHTRs is captured in the Welsh Government’s “Together for Mental Health” delivery plan.

The National Partnership Agreement for Prison Healthcare in England (2018-2021) was published on the 10th April 2018. This agreement between MoJ, HMPPS, Public Health England, DHSC, and NHS England, confirms our commitment to delivering a high-quality health service in prisons, marked by a deeper level of cooperation and cohesiveness.

We are also working with the DHSC, and NHS England, to identify improvements that can be made to the process by which prisoners are transferred to hospital for treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983 to ensure that people with severe mental health problems are moving through the secure health care system to the most appropriate place for their needs.