§ 66. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that his regulation that a prison sentence must be served in the country in which it is imposed inflicts additional hardship on some Scottish, English and Welsh citizens who are thereby deprived of the opportunity of being visited by their relatives, inflicts on the relatives who wish to visit them avoidable expense and increases the number of travellers by road and rail; and if he will alter the regulation accordingly.
§ Sir F. SoskiceA person sentenced to imprisonment is committed to a prison in the country in which he is sentenced; but under Section 26 of the Criminal Justice Act 1961 the responsible Minister may make an order for transfer to another part of the United Kingdom. In consultation with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland I would make such an order if I considered there was a compassionate case for doing so and room could be found in a suitable prison.