§ 24. Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures his Department is taking to deal with remand prisoners in police cells.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe prison service continues to work to increase the amount of available accommodation in order to reduce the number of prisoners in police cells. In addition to the delivery of a large number of new places under the prison building programme, measures taken so far have included the retention of establishments listed for closure and the conversion of under-occupied young offender accommodation to adult use.
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§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government propose to take to address anomalies in the geographical distribution of remands to prison department custody.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe provision of sufficient places in prison service establishments, which serve the courts by holding inmates remanded in custody or awaiting trial, is a matter which is kept under constant review. Where the current level of provision fails to meet demand or is likely to fail to meet future demand, the prison service seeks to deal with the problem either by changing the role of existing accommodation or through the prison building programme.