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Dept of Health

Answer

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action the Government are taking to promote effective inter-agency arrangements for dealing with mentally disordered offenders. [144072] Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government are committed both to providing better services for people with mental health problems and to protecting the public from crime and the fear of crime. A number of initiatives to support these aims are underway, involving a number of Government departments to tackle the issues raised by mentally disordered offenders. The Department of Health, the Home Office and the Prison Service are developing new assessment and treatment facilities for dangerous people with severe personality disorder. This will result in 300 new places becoming available in high secure care with the development of an infrastructure at lower levels of security to allow a safe transition for those whose risk is reduced. Multi-agency public protection arrangements exist in every part of the country and bring together health, police, probation and other agencies to plan the management of people who pose a risk in the community, many of whom are mentally disordered offenders. Closer working between social services departments and mental health trusts, often leading to single management, has benefited all mental health services, including mentally disordered offenders by removing the traditional boundaries between health and social care. Court liaison and diversion schemes are widespread and act to ensure that mentally ill people who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System receive mental health care whenever possible. A number of strands of work are underway with the National Probation Service to ensure that they are supported by mental health services while managing people with mental health problems in hostels and the community.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

415 c999-1000W; 144072

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Dangerous psychiatric patients Medical treatments Mentally disordered offenders Prisoners Mental health services

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk