HL Deb 27 October 1986 vol 481 cc507-8

2.57 p.m.

Lord Graham of Edmonton

My Lords I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:— To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to receive the report of the Chief Inspector of Prisons on the circumstances which led to major disturbances in prisons in April 1986.

The Minister of State, Home Office (The Earl of Caithness)

My Lords, we understand Her Majesty's Chief Inspector hopes to finish work by the end of the year and that he will submit his report as soon as possible thereafter.

Lord Graham of Edmonton

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. Will he accept that all who know Sir James Hennessy will expect a thorough, professional and worthwhile report? But is he aware that one of the disturbances in April occurred in Whymot Prison, while it was allegedly suffering from industrial action, yet trouble in that same prison erupted a few days ago under a normal regime? Does the Minister agree with the Regional Director of Prisons for the North West who said last week, following a major disturbance at the Risley Remand Centre, that it was due to staff shortages and that it is in tackling this problem that a solution can be found to the crisis in the prisons?

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, with due respect, I think that the noble Lord has gone considerably wide of the Question on the Order Paper, and that to comment on modern events without an appropriate Question being put down would be wrong. Suffice it to say that the prison officer-inmate ratio has come down from 1:8 just after the war to 1:2.6 now.

Lord Allen of Abbeydale

My Lords, is it intended that the chief inspector's report be published?

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, that is a matter for my right honourable friend the Home Secretary.

Lord Graham of Edmonton

My Lords, if there is to he the generous time-scale for the production of the report that has been promised, may we also take it that there will be an equally generous time-scale for considering a fresh start? That is a matter of at least equal importance to the prison service as the result of the inquiry into the disturbances.

The Earl of Caithness

My Lords, the question of a fresh start is again wide of the Question on the Order Paper, but we believe it to be absolutely fundamental to cure some of the problems facing us at the moment.