Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that staff members in prisons and youth offenders institutions have sufficient information to allow inmates at risk of self-harm to be quickly identified.

All prisons are required to have procedures to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. A health assessment is undertaken for all prisoners on reception into custody to assess their risk of suicide or self-harm. The prisoner’s Person Escort Record form, which is available to staff on reception, may provide information about concerns of self-harm. When a prisoner is identified as being at-risk of self-harm, they are managed through the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system.

All relevant risk information is recorded on the Prison NOMIS case management system and on healthcare IT systems where appropriate. All staff working directly with prisoners have access to NOMIS and the relevant risk information.