HC Deb 15 February 1996 vol 271 c1131
11. Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many requests for transfer of prisoners from one prison to another the Prison Service dealt with in the last 12 months. [13860]

Hon. Members

Again, again.

Miss Widdecombe

Yes, I shall say it again and again until the Opposition get used to it.

The Prison Service deals with requests for transfers on a regular basis. The majority of such requests are dealt with locally and detailed records and statistics are not held centrally.

Mr. Pike

The Minister will recognise that the Prison Service believes that it is beneficial to prisoners and to the running of prisons to have prisoners near their families so that they can visit. What facilities does the Prison Service have to try to ensure that that is done wherever possible, given that, in many cases, the prisoners' families are totally innocent people?

Miss Widdecombe

The Prison Service has a very clear objective, which is—as far as possible—to keep prisoners near their families, but it has to take into account the security classification of the prisoner, available space and sundry other considerations. Nevertheless, the Prison Service's objective is that which the hon. Gentleman rightly described as important.

Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman

Will my hon. Friend accept that she is very unlikely to get any requests for transfers from Lancaster Farms young offenders institution, because it has cracked the problem of bullying? Instead of isolating the person who is bullied, thus depriving him of privileges, it isolates the bully, depriving him of privileges. That has had a magical effect on bullying and people from all over the world come to learn about it. It is also one of the reasons why the prison got an excellent report from prison inspectors. Will my hon. Friend congratulate the prison?

Miss Widdecombe

I have pleasure in congratulating Lancaster Farms. I can confirm what my hon. Friend has said—its anti-bullying strategy has provoked national and international interest.

I also congratulate the Prison Service in general on the emphasis that it has put on anti-bullying strategies and on the success of many such strategies, often with completely different characteristics, in various prisons.