§ 7. Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action has been taken to look into the food complaints of prisoners at Dartmoor Prison; what similar complaints have come from other prisons; and whether he will have inquiries made to ensure that prisoners have plain, decently-cooked food.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeAs regards Dartmoor Prison, I would refer the hon. Member to the concluding part of the reply which I gave on3rd February to the hon. Member for Devonport (Mr. Foot). From other prisons there has been no appreciable volume of complaint about food except at Parkhurst last November, as a result of which the Prison Commissioners caused a review to be made of the arrangements there for the preparation and service of meals. It is a requirement of the Prison Rules that the food provided for prisoners shall be of a nutritional value adequate for health and strength and of wholesome quality, well 2220 prepared and served, and reasonably varied; and I am satisfied that these requirements are observed.
§ Mr. JannerWill the right hon. and gallant Gentleman make it clear to those who have the duty of looking after these unfortunate people that even a prisoner is entitled to have food which is decently and properly cooked, and that it is a purposeless thing to destroy food by making it unpalatable? Will he emphasise these points to the persons I have mentioned with a view to seeing that nothing which has already happened recurs?
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI am afraid that I cannot accept what the hon. Gentleman says. The suggestion apparently is that the food is bad. That is quite untrue; it is not. The food is of a very good quality. There is only one complaint that had justification and it was immediately put right. That was the Parkhurst one to which I have referred. Considering the number of people in prison, and the time they have to think about food, it is remarkable how little complaint about food there is.
§ Mr. YatesIs the Home Secretary aware that according to the dietary sheet to which he has referred, and a copy of which he was good enough to send me, it was stipulated that a prisoner should have one egg per month and 12 ounces of sugar per week? In Dartmoor no eggs have been supplied for the last 2½ years, and no sugar is issued separately to the prisoners. Does the right hon. and gallant Gentleman not think that that should be investigated?
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI will look into the part of the hon. Member's question about eggs. It does not mean that because sugar is not issued separately, the prisoners do not get it. The quality of the diet is based on scientific advice from the Ministry of Food, and as the hon. Gentleman knows, the Prison Commissioners have their own adviser.