§ Dame Joan Vickersasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people absconded from borstals, approved schools and other institutions for which his Department is responsible in 1966, 1967, and 1968; and what action is taken to inform their parents.
§ Mr. Elystan MorganThe figures asked for, in relation to England and Wales, are as follows:
1966 1967 1968 Borstals 1,059 975 1,425 Detention centres 48 50 42 Prisons (including remand centres) holding young prisoners 26 6 14 Approved schools 5,268 5,950 4,101* Remand homes 917 771 454* * Figures for the first half of 1968 only, figures are not yet available for the second half. Governors and Wardens of Prison Department establishments normally inform parents or next of kin by letter not later than the day after a young person absconds. Occasionally parents are informed orally before they receive this letter. Governors and wardens also inform parents or next of kin by letter of recapture.
It is normal practice for approved schools and remand homes to notify parents as soon as possible, both when their children abscond and when they are known to have been apprehended, although in some cases this information may reach the parents first from the police or child-care authority.