To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2007, Official Report, columns 1705-06W, on prisons, how many prisoners were identified as suffering from mental illness in each year since 1997. (118995)

[holding answer 6 February 2007]: The information requested is not held centrally.

A survey, “Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales” (Office for National Statistics, 1998) showed that 90 per cent. of prisoners have at least one significant mental health problem, including personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence. A copy is available in the Library.

Mental health services for prisoners have been a key part of the Government's recent reforms of health services for prisoners. The Department of Health is now investing £20 million a year in NHS mental health in-reach services for prisoners. These are community mental health teams working within prisons and are now available in 102 prisons, with some 360 extra staff employed. Every prison in England and Wales has access to these services. Information on how many prisoners receive these services is not collected centrally.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the proportion of the prison population in each London prison who suffer from mental illness; and if he will make a statement. (120807)

[holding answer 9 February 2007]: The information requested is not held centrally. A survey, “Psychiatric Morbidity among Prisoners in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics, 1997)” showed that 90 per cent. of prisoners have at least one significant mental health problem, including personality disorder, psychosis, neurosis, alcohol misuse and drug dependence. A copy is available in the Library.

Mental health services for prisoners have been a key part of the Government's recent reforms of health services for prisoners. The Department of Health is now investing £20 million a year in NHS mental health in-reach services for prisoners. These are community mental health teams working within 102 prisons, with some 360 extra staff employed. Every prison in England and Wales has access to these services.