§ 4. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new occupations he has introduced into the prison system since 1970 in the light of recommendations made in 1967 about the need to find suitable work for the more intelligent prisoners.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Mark Carlisle)New occupations include data processing, technical drawing and typewriting, and work in prison industries connected with quality, stock and 1876 shop floor control, inspection and work study.
§ Mrs. ShortCan the hon. and learned Gentleman consider the indexing of legal documents and other kinds of records, as I understand is now being done in Scotland, where the precognitions since 1820 are being indexed? As there are always some lawyers, accountants, doctors and people of that kind in prison, would not this be a very useful way of using their talents?
§ Mr. CarlisleI am aware, of course, of the proposals put by the Estimates Committee, of which the hon. Lady was chairman, and we have considered this. Some work has been obtained from the Public Records Office and from the Meteorological Office. But we find that work on records requires extensive organisation and staff and we are attempting to concentrate more on providing experience in what might be called modern white collar work.