§ 27. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what developments are planned for the Probation Service in Uganda.
§ Mr. ProfumoThe long-term requirements for probation and after-care services will be assessed after consideration of the report of a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice which is investigating juvenile delinquency. In the meantime, a proposal for an interim increase by seven in the establishment of probation and after-care assistants and officers is under consideration.
§ Mr. StonehouseIs the Under-Secretary of State aware that the provision for the probation service in Uganda in the last few years has been appallingly small and that expenditure on this very important service has been restricted to about £15,000 a year, whereas in one financial year alone new prisons were being constructed to the tune of nearly £500,000? Would it not be better for the probation service to be extended so that many hundreds of first offenders could receive probation treatment rather than be put into gaol?
§ Mr. ProfumoI imagine that the adequacy of the probation system will figure in the report of the committee on juvenile delinquency to which I have referred.