Response to Offender Personality Disorder Consultation

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Friday 21st October 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

I am publishing today a joint Department of Health and Ministry of Justice response to the public consultation on an offender personality disorder pathway implementation plan, which was completed on 17 May 2011.

The consultation set out the Government’s plans to reshape services, interventions and treatments for offenders with severe personality disorders. There were 91 responses to the consultation almost all of which supported the proposed approach.

The Government will now begin to take forward the pathway approach, which will enable the complex needs of high-risk offenders to be addressed more effectively. We will start to decommission the dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) pilot sites in the NHS, the first being the unit based in Broadmoor high secure psychiatric hospital. The patients currently being held in these facilities will continue to be treated in the level of security necessary for the risk they present and no individual will be moved to a lower-level of security as a result of these changes. Professional judgments on an individual’s appropriate level of security will continue to be made as part of the normal assessment arrangements.

The new pathway will enable the complex needs of high-risk offenders to be addressed more effectively. Interventions and treatment will be provided earlier and in the most suitable locations, additional support will be given to those who have completed programmes and ongoing supervision will be enhanced. These plans strengthen public protection arrangements and improvements in psychological health outcomes through new collaborative services across the national health service and national offender management service.

“Response to Offender Personality Disorder Consultation” has been placed in the Library. Copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office.