To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons within the prison system in the last year for which figures are available received care in long-term mental facilities within (a) one year, (b) two years and (c) three years of offending.

In 1992 the Secretary of State authorised the transfer of 611 mentally disordered prisoners to hospital under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 for appropriate medical treatment. The information held centrally does not show what periods of time these prisoners had spent in custody before transfer to hospital, nor how long they remained in hospital after being transferred.