§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the categories of offenders who are excluded from open bail hostels.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Approved Probation Hostel and Home and Bail Hostel Rules 1976 prohibit the admission to approved hostels, including bail hostels, of any person suffering from severe subnormality or psychopathic disorder. In addition, the prior consent of the Secretary of State is required before anyone can be admitted to a hostel who is outside the limits of age approved for that hostel.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the proportion of men bailed to hostels who are unemployed.
§ Mr. John PattenThe information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the role and purpose of bail hostels.
§ Mr. John PattenApproved bail hostels provide supervised accommodation in the community for defendants who have been remanded on bail. Their purpose is to reduce unnecessary remands in custody under the terms of the Bail Act 1976.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bail hostels closed in each year since 1988–89; and if he will give the reasons in each case.
§ Mr. John PattenNo bail hostels have closed since 1988–89.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish up-to-date statistics of re-offence by residents in bail hostels;
(2) if he will list all the categories of offence of defendants who were accommodated in bail hostels and who were subsequently convicted of those offences in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. John PattenThis information is not available.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make provision of grant aid to local probation committees for building bail hostels conditional on the granting of planning permission by the appropriate authority.
§ Mr. John PattenAll approvals for expenditure on the provision of bail hostels are conditional on any relevant planning permission being obtained.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will institute a system for recording, in each bail hostel area, the level of crime associated with bailees, including specifically(a) all serious crime, (b) sexual offences and (c) theft and burglary.
§ Mr. John PattenCrime is not recorded according to bail hostel area and there are no plans to do so. Work is in hand to analyse the significance of offending on bail, and the results will be announced as soon as is practicable.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many custodial sentences have effectively been served at bail hostels because of delays in the criminal justice system.
§ Mr. John PattenTime spent on bail awaiting trial or sentence does not count towards a subsequent custodial sentence.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bail hostels are of the core and cluster type.
§ Mr. John PattenOn 1 December 1991, there were 15 bail hostels of the core and cluster type.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy on the siting of new bail hostels; what guidance has been issued to local probation committees on the procedures to be followed in respect of public consultation in selecting sites; and if he will publish the guidance.
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§ Mr. John PattenThe role of the Home Office in the setting up of individual bail hostels is confined) to approving a proposal for funding. It is for local probation committees to decide the location of a bail hostel, obtain the appropriate planning consents and negotiate the purchase.
The Home Office requires local probation committees, when deciding on a location, to assess the reactions of local residents and elected representatives to their proposals, but no specific guidance has been issued on how this should be done.
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is(a) the amount of public expenditure and (b) the number of prison places saved per year as a result of the expansion programme for the bail hostel scheme since 1988.
§ Mr. John PattenSince 1988 central Government capital expenditure of approximately £9.9 million has been provided for the bail hostel expansion programme, but not all the bed spaces funded have yet come on stream. Estimates of the number of prison places saved at the year end based on 90 per cent. occupancy of available hostel places are:
Number 1988–89 32 1989–90 161 1990–91 383 1991–92 662
§ Mr. ConwayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Home Office has for increasing the number of remand places available.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe prison building programme will deliver a further 4,500 places by the end of 1992. The majority of these are local prisons or remand centres to hold remand and newly sentenced prisoners.