§ Mr. McCuskerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many prisoners serving sentences in Scotland have been sentenced for offences connected with the Northern Ireland troubles; how many are Scottish; and how many are Ulstermen;
(2) how many Scotsmen currently serving sentences for offences related to the Northern Ireland troubles are imprisoned at Perth, Aberdeen or Peterhead.
§ Mr. William Ross:All inmates currently serving sentences in Scottish penal institutions have been convicted of offences under the ordinary criminal law. I am not in a position to say how many of these may have been related to the troubles in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. McCuskerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many prisoners are currently held in Her Majesty's Prisons in Perth, Aberdeen and Peterhead;
(2) how many prisoners who are currently held in Her Majesty's Prisons at Perth, Aberdeen and Peterhead have their normal place of residence outside Scotland.
§ Mr. William Ross:The numbers in custody at midnight on 16th March 1975 were: Her Majesty's Prison, Perth—578; Her Majesty's Prison, Aberdeen—168; Her Majesty's Prison, Peterhead—322.
Of these numbers 33, 9 and 10 prisoners, respectively, normally reside outside Scotland.
§ Mr. McCuskerasked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prisoners have been transferred to Northern Ireland from Scotland to complete their sentences during the period 1968 to 1974; and how many have been transferred from Northern Ireland to Scotland.
§ Mr. William Ross:I regret that information for the years prior to 1972 is not readily available. Since the beginning of 1972 one prisoner was transferred from Scotland to Northern Ireland to complete his sentence. There were no transfers from Northern Ireland to Scotland in the same period.