§ 40. Mr. Collinsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that a letter handed in for censorship at Pentonville prison on 10th June and addressed to the hon. Member for Shoreditch and Finsbury was not delivered until 18th June; and if he will cancel the instructions under which letters sent by prisoners to Members of Parliament are censored and copied before posting.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI have been unable to ascertain the reason why the letter took so long to reach the hon. Member, but the delay, which I regret, does not appear to have been due to the time taken to censor or copy the letter. The purpose of taking copies of prisoners' letters to Members of Parliament was to facilitate inquiries and expedite replies to hon. Members' letters, but the practice has disadvantages and I agree that the experiment of dispensing with them might be tried. I am accordingly directing that the practice be suspended. As regards censorship of prisoners' letters, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Hale) on 21st June.
§ Mr. CollinsIs the Home Secretary aware that the question of delay was far less important than the second part of my Question and this his reply to that will give great satisfaction? Will he indicate whether this change will be made immediately and that from today prisoners' letters to Members of Parliament will no longer be copied or censored?
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI am directing that the practice should be suspended.