HC Deb 20 December 1956 vol 562 cc1435-6
13. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juvenile delinquents, certified under the Mental Deficiency Acts, are now detained under orders made by him.

Major Lloyd-George

Children and young persons committed to approved schools and certain other establishments who are transferred to mental deficiency hospitals by order under Section 9 of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, become the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health. Statistics are not kept in a form showing the number of such persons who are detained at any one time. The orders expire after a year unless continued by the Board of Control. Thirty-two orders were made in 1955, and 39 so far this year.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

In view of the recent court cases showing that some persons in this category have been wrongly detained, will the Home Secretary have an urgent review made of all the outstanding cases in which juvenile delinquents have been detained by an order of the Home Secretary, sometimes for very many years after the original sentence to an approved school or Borstal has expired? Is the Home Secretary aware that there is very great uneasiness about the way in which some of these people are put away for the rest of their lives?

Major Lloyd-George

That, of course, as the hon. and gallant Member appreciates, is a matter for the Board of Control dealing with people certified in this way.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

But the right hon. and gallant Gentleman makes the detention orders.

Major Lloyd-George

Of course; that does not make any difference to what I have just said. I will look into any matter at any time. Whatever outstanding cases the hon. and gallant Member has in mind, there has been a steady decline in the last few years.

Dr. D. Johnson

Is my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that there is uneasiness about these medical certifications which are made under conditions of imprisonment and from which there is no appeal, as the detention which they warrant is continued after the prison sentences have lapsed? Will he review this matter in the same way as he promised me that he would look into the Criminal Lunatics Act when I asked him a similar Question?

Major Lloyd-George

Of course I will certainly look into anything about which my hon. Friend asks me on this question. I would remind him that the orders expire after a year unless they are continued by the Board of Control.