Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Patel of Bradford (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 16 December 2009.

Prisoners: Drugs

Question: My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group that has been established to review and make clear recommendations on effective drug treatment in prisons. Let me assure noble Lords that that is not an easy task. Does my noble friend agree that it is vital that we have a range of high-quality drug treatment services in the prison system, not only to address maintenance prescribing and the prescriptions in terms of detoxification but so that we provide a wide variety of psychosocial interventions that will clearly address the many complex needs that drug-using offenders present to us?

Answer: I am very grateful to my noble friend. I congratulate him and his team and thank them very much for their work on the Prison Drug Treatment Strategy Review Group. There could hardly be more important work to do in relation to drugs in prison. We believe that this group, chaired by my noble friend, provides the right mix of knowledge, expertise and experience. I agree with him, of course, that there are problems in getting the balance right between detoxification and weaning people off drugs in other ways, as well as all of the other issues that affect prisoners who are dependent on drugs. Those issues, alas, sometimes come to the fore when prisoners are released, putting the rest of the community in some kind of danger.

Secondary information