Non-smoking prisoners cannot be required to share accommodation with smokers. Designating dormitories for smokers or non-smokers would not provide sufficient flexibility in the use of accommodation.
No enforcement officers are being deployed specifically to ensure compliance with Prison Service Instruction 9/2007. In public sector prisons, Prison Service Area Managers monitor compliance with all Orders and Instructions in the course of routine line management contacts and visits. In contracted prisons, the Home Office Controller on site monitors compliance.
No additional budget was required to carry out these risk assessments.
The Prison Service has in place policies and procedures for training staff to carry out risk assessments and for carrying out risk assessments to staff and others who may be affected by its undertakings. These have been used in (a) the preparation of risk assessments and (b) reviewing existing assessments on how the health and safety of (i) employees, (ii) visitors and (iii) non smoking inmates are best protected under the terms of Prison Service Instruction 09/2007.
(2) what estimate she has made of the likely costs arising from the exemption to smoke-free legislation under Prison Service Instruction 09/2007; from what budget this will come; and if she will make a statement;
(3) what budget is available for the (a) commission and (b) display of signs required under Prison Service Instruction 09/2007; from where the budget for these signs is sourced; and if she will make a statement.
The only visible cost of these arrangements will be a one-off cost for installing relevant signs which are manufactured in prison workshops. No estimate has been made of these costs, which are being met from existing local resources.
Prison staff will ensure that cell doors are locked or fully closed when prisoners are smoking.
There are no plans to install additional ventilation systems.
The NHS has been responsible for commissioning prison healthcare services, including smoking cessation, for publicly run prisons in England since April 2006.
For each of the financial years 2003-2006, the Department of Health provided an additional £500,000 funding to bring smoking cessation services in line with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines. Resources are now contained within the baseline funding of NHS primary care trusts.
Health care arrangements in private prisons are provided under their establishing contract. Information on expenditure on specific health services in these prisons is not collected centrally.
The guidance is set out in Prison Service Instruction 9/2007, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Safe systems of work will be in place to allow smoke to clear from cells before routine entry by staff. Staff will be expected to enter cells in an emergency threatening life and limb, even if tobacco smoke is present.
The arrangements set out in PSI 9/2007, which are required to comply with the Smoke Free Legislation (Health Act 2006), were operationally impact assessed by a group of senior operational managers, chaired by the deputy director general of the Prison Service, prior to implementation. Ministers have not received any representations on this matter.
Pregnant women and prisoners in mother and baby units will be permitted to smoke in cells occupied only by smokers, in the same way as all other prisoners.
A prisoner who recorded their status on reception as a smoker and wishes to change their status to non-smoker, or vice versa, may make an application to wing staff.
Under PSI 9/2007, all cells containing up to four persons will be designated as places where smoking is permissible when occupied only by smokers. Smokers must not be required to share cells with non-smokers who are actively smoking, but these arrangements enable governors to use accommodation flexibly to meet the changing needs of the prison population.