recommendations. Nevertheless, the authorities propose to remind all PPCs of the need to monitor compliance with these requirements in practice. 60. The CPT also expresses concern in the report about the frequent deployment of special intervention teams (IBT) in full protective gear in the context of the transfer of patients to seclusion in PPCs. In their response, the authorities acknowledge the benefits of efforts to de-escalate tense situations, while emphasising the need to ensure a safe living and working environment in detention. 61. Another matter of concern was that in civil psychiatric establishments, police officers (or private security guards) were at times called upon to intervene when very agitated patients could not be controlled by health-care staff. The Committee recommended that this practice be stopped and that appropriate training be provided to nursing staff. While expressing doubt, in their response, that hospital staff would ever be in a position to do away entirely with the need to call upon assistance from the police, the Dutch authorities nevertheless commit to discussing ways to improve the hospital staff’s ability to handle aggressive or violent behaviour. Report published in January 2017 (CPT/Inf(2017)1), response published in September 2017 (CPT/Inf(2017)29) Report on the periodic visit to the United Kingdom in March-April 2016 and response of the United Kingdom authorities (police custody; immigration detention; prison conditions for adults and juveniles; medium and high secure forensic psychiatry establishments; treatment of psychiatric patients) 62. In the report, the CPT welcomes the United Kingdom authorities’ willingness to reform the prison system of England and Wales. However, it warns that unless concrete, determined and swift action is taken to reduce the prison population significantly, the regime improvements envisaged by the authorities’ reform agenda would remain unattainable. 63. The CPT was very concerned by the amount of severe generalised violence – particularly inter-prisoner violence – evident in each of the prisons visited. As a result of a combination of systemic failings, none of the prisons visited could be considered safe for prisoners or staff. The report recommends concrete measures to bring prisons back under the effective control of staff, reversing the trend of escalating violence; a far greater investment should be undertaken to prevent violence. In particular, this would require a swift reinforcement of staffing levels. In response, the United Kingdom authorities state that improving safety and decreasing violence is an urgent priority, which they plan to tackle – together with the reduction of reoffending rates – in their agenda to modernise the prison estate, improve education, and create more purposeful regimes. They describe specific measures aimed at reducing violence – both in prisons for adults and in the youth estate – including violence stemming from the widespread availability of psychoactive substances. 64. The CPT’s report underlines that many aspects of prison life were being negatively affected by overcrowding in the prison system. The regimes in all prisons General Report of the CPT, 2017 ► Page 22