Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the roll-out of the Liaison and Diversion services schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services operate by referring offenders who are identified as having mental health issues, learning disabilities, substance misuse and other vulnerabilities such as homelessness, into appropriate treatment and support services. L&D services also share appropriate information with justice agencies to assist with justice decisions.

NHS England commissions L&D services and since April 2015 services have been available to over 50% of the English population. The Department of Health commissioned RAND Europe to conduct an independent evaluation of L&D services. This evaluation will form part of the Full Business Case for national roll out of L&D services, to be submitted to HM Treasury in autumn 2015.