Select committee: Justice Committee
Conclusion 8
5th Report - Mental health in prison
Published 29 Sep 2021
Paragraph 43
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Mental Health in Prison All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Too many offenders are imprisoned because community orders with mental health treatment requirements are unavailable in many areas. The Government’s target that community orders with mental health treatment requirements should be available across 50% of England and Wales by 2023 is insufficiently ambitious. It is unacceptable that in many parts of the country and for years to come, sentencers will continue to be obliged to send offenders to prisons simply because appropriate community sentences are unavailable.
From: Justice Committee, 5th Report - Mental health in prison (HC 72), paragraph 43, 29 September 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 4 February 2022 (deadline 29 November 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government "welcomes" the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, largely by pointing to existing and planned work, while setting out dated commitments on matters such as a 28-day transfer limit, medical records transfer and a Working Group on prison as a place of safety.
- On substance misuse and violence, the MoJ and HMPPS "agree with the Committee" that tackling them is "critical to prisons’ recovery from the pandemic", and cite the Prisons Strategy White Paper and a new 10-year drugs strategy.
- On transfers to mental health hospitals, the Government has committed in the Mental Health Act White Paper to a new statutory 28-day time limit, "to be commenced once the revised NHS England and NHS Improvement guidance has been fully embedded in practice". It will take stock of progress during 2022/23.
- On medical records, it states health records "will be automatically transferred" between community and prison health services, and "expect[s]" completion for the male estate by April 2023 and the female estate by the end of 2023.
- On ending the use of prison as a place of safety and on amending the Bail Act, it sets no 31 March 2022 date. It cites a cross-departmental Working Group, with a "cross-departmental response and agreement of priorities by September 2022", and says it is "currently reviewing" the bail power.