Written question asked by Helen Clark (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 March 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 28 March 2003. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Friday, 28 March 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of self-injury in prison. - Inc figure.

Answer: Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of self-injury in prison. [104216] Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply. Prison Health and the prison service's safer custody group keep the prevalence of self injury in prison under regular review. The prison service routinely collects statistics from establishments about self-inflicted deaths and self harm. After research had demonstrated a problem with under-reporting of self-harm, a new, simpler and standardised method for recording and reporting such incidents was introduced from 1 December 2002, which, when piloted, had been shown to produce more reliable data. The number of incidents of self-harm reported during the first three months the new form was in operation was 3143.

Secondary information