Responding to the publication of Improving Health, Supporting
Justice, the Government's delivery plan for implementing the recommendations
of the Bradley Report, Sean Duggan said:

"We warmly welcome the Government's
commitment to providing liaison and diversion services to all courts and
police stations across the country within five years. And we are delighted
that the Government is taking action to reduce delays in the provision of
court psychiatric reports.

We are concerned, however, that no timescale has
been given for achieving a 14-day target for the transfer of prisoners to
hospital in an emergency.

The plan gives scant mention to forensic mental
health services yet increasingly a significant restructuring of secure
hospital provision is needed.

We welcome the Government's pledge to build
the capacity of local services to improve the health of offenders. From
investing in training for frontline staff to offering better guidance for
commissioners, the delivery plan should help to raise the standard of
support that services are able to offer.

We welcome the plan to register all
sentenced prisoners with a GP. This is an important step to offering equity
of access to services but will need to come with investment in prison mental
health services to bridge the gap between what we spend now and what we
should be spending.

The Government is right to say that services should be
developed according to local needs. But it is vital that local service
providers and commissioners know what is expected of them and that they are
held to account for bringing about improvements.

And they will need much
clearer guidance on how to disinvest in less effective services in order to
spend scarce resources on better alternatives.

Otherwise we could continue
to see piecemeal provision of services that should be available to all.

We
are concerned that the plan gives little regard to the specific needs of
people from Black and minority ethnic communities. But we are pleased that
the plan emphasises the need for much better support for the health of women
offenders and for veterans of the armed services.

And we welcome the pledge
to review the support offered to offenders with personality disorders,
including the high-cost DSPD pilots. There exists great potential to
redirect resources in both the criminal justice system and the NHS towards
better support for offenders with mental health problems.

For too long we
have seen too many people with mental health problems in custody, at high
cost to the taxpayer, to their health and to their communities.

By
intervening earlier and more effectively we can improve the health of some
of the most excluded members of our society, and make communities safer and
reduce offending.

It is now more vital than ever that public money is spent
wisely on services that make a difference.

We have been talking about
national coverage of liaison and diversion services since the Reed Report
was published in 1992.

The case for action is clear. What we need now is a
clear line of accountability for making it happen. The time to act is now."