Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission a survey of the prevalence of mental health problems and learning disabilities among adults and children in the prison population and in other criminal justice settings.

Improving the mental health of offenders is a priority for this Government, as set out in the mental health strategy No Health, Without Mental Health in 2011. We have acted upon the recommendations of Lord Bradley's review, published in 2009, of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities in the criminal justice system, to ensure that people in prison have the same access to mental health services as the rest of population. The review also recommended the development of liaison and diversion services nationally, the national liaison and diversion programme is currently trialling an all age service model with the intention of national roll-out by 2017.

The Government's Mandate commits NHS England to develop better healthcare services for offenders and people in the criminal justice system, which are integrated between custody and the community, including through development of liaison and diversion services.

We have also asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop guidelines on improving the mental health for people in prison, which is expected to be published in 2016.

NHS England is responsible for commissioning health services, including mental health services, for people who are detained in prison or other secure accommodation. NHS England published Securing Excellence in Commissioning for Offender Health, which sets out its commissioning intentions to secure the best possible health outcomes for prisoners, detainees and children and young people in secure settings. This document is published on NHS England's website:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/offender-commissioning.pdf

NHS England, the National Offender Management Service and Public Health England established a national partnership agreement for the co-commissioning and delivery of healthcare services in prisons in England. The partnership agreement sets out the shared strategic intent and joint commitment of these organisations to deliver effective health care for offenders and improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities. A copy of the partnership agreement is published on the National Offender Management Service's website:

www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/about/noms/work-with-partners/national-partnership-agreement-commissioning-delivery-healthcare-prisons2013.pdf

The Department commissioned the Office for National Statistics in 1997 to conduct a survey of the prevalence of psychiatric problems in prison. There are no plans to commission a further survey.

The Liaison and Diversion programme has recently commissioned an evaluation of liaison and diversion services. The implementation of improved screening as part of these services will provide a level of information on offender health needs within that evaluation.