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Home Office;Prison Service

Answer

Mr. Madden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison medical officers are currently in post in prisons in England and Wales; how many posts are currently vacant; and what were the equivalent figures in each of the last five years. [9168] Miss Ann Widdecombe: [holding answer 16 December 1996]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the prison service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Max Madden, dated 18 December 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of medical officers currently in post in prisons in England and Wales; the number of posts currently vacant; and the equivalent figures in each of the last five years. Information on vacancies is not currently held centrally. I will write to you again when the figures become available. Data on the number of medical officers in post in prisons is only available centrally for the current and previous years. The numbers of full-time and part-time doctors working in the Service at the end of March for the last two years are given in the attached table. Doctors employed in the Prison Service: 1994-95 and 1995-96 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Full time doctors Part time doctors Year Medical officer Senior medical Total Medical officer Senior medical Total officer officer 1994-95 96 49 145 136 0 136 1995-96 91 42 133 89 3 92 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. The figures include doctors employed in privately managed prisons except Blakenhurst which did not submit any staffing information.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

9168; 287 c727-8W;287 c728W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Doctors Health services Prisons

Contains statistics

Yes