§ Mr. Dubsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on what medical criteria doctors making court reports judge boys fit for detention centre training; and if they invariably include an assessment of the boy's mental stability;
(2) in what percentage of cases sentencing courts had a medical report before them when committing boys to Send detention centre in 1978 and 1979.
§ Mr. BrittanPrison medical officers making reports to court consider whether there is any aspect of a young offender's physical or mental health which makes it undesirable that he should go to a detention centre, and report accordingly, taking into account the nature of regimes operated at the centres. Home Office circular 179/1972, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House, offers guidance to other medical practitioners who528W are invited by a court to report on medical fitness for detention centre training, and indicates that they may seek advice from prison medical officers. Information about the proportion of cases in which medical reports or certificates of fitness were prepared could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.