§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many requests they have received in recent years for transfers of prisoners between United Kingdom jurisdictions (specifying which); how many were refused, and how many are still outstanding; and whether they can give similar information for transfers between the Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom jurisdictions.
The Earl of CaithnessThe information in the following table relates only to requests from inmates themselves, and therefore excludes requests made by the relevant authorities for the transfer of inmates for judicial purposes.
Requests from inmates for permanent transfer between jurisdictions under Section 26 of the Criminal Justice Act 1961: 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 to 26th October (a) from England and Wales to Northern Ireland: (i) No. received 20 12 26 25 27 (ii) No. refused 17 9 20 23 17 (b) from England and Wales to Scotland: (i) No. received 39 37 66 88 76 (ii) No. refused 22 24 45 59 38 (c) from Northern Ireland to England and Wales: (i) No. received 5 8 4 3 1 (ii) No. refused 3 4 3 2 1 (b) from Northern Ireland to Scotland: (i) No. received — 1 — — — (ii) No. refused — — — — — Information on the numbers of requests for transfer from Scotland received or refused is not readily available. Since some inmates have made multiple applications for transfer, the number of requests refused should not be taken as equivalent to the number of inmates refused transfer.
The numbers of requests outstanding are as follows: from England and Wales to Northern Ireland, six, and to Scotland, 14; from Northern Ireland, none; from Scotland to England and Wales, five, and to Northern Ireland, one. The Republic of Ireland has no powers either to hold prisoners sentenced in another jurisdiction or to transfer its own sentenced prisoners to other jurisdictions. No transfers to or from the Republic have therefore taken place.