§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will announce a time-table for reducing the number of prisoners in police cells; how many prisoners were so detained at the latest date for which figures are available; and in which police authority areas;
(2) when he expects Operation Container to be discontinued;
(3) what representations his Department has had about the future of Operation Container and the problems it has caused for the police service;
(4) if he will be meeting representatives of the greater Manchester police authority to discuss Operation Container; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydOperation Container was set up specifically to deal with the shortage of prison accommodation in the greater Manchester area caused by the destruction of Manchester prison in April 1990. Since then, the prison population has risen and there is now a general shortfall throughout England and Wales of prison accommodation available to house all those who have been committed to prison by the courts. Measures have been taken to make more effective use of prison accommodation, and new accommodation is being added to the estate.
Nevertheless, on 7 May there were still 1,638 prisoners in police cells for whom places could not be founed in prisons. They were held by the following police forces:
20W
Number Avon and Somerset 43 Bedfordshire 21 Cambridgeshire 20 Cheshire 36 Cleveland 29 Cumbria 31 Derbyshire 15 Devon and Cornwall 22 Durham 34 Dyfed 24 Essex 13 Greater Manchester 233 Gwent 2 Hampshire 3 Hertfordshire 14 Humberside 30 Lancashire 114 Leicestershire 21 Lincolnshire 13 Merseyside 71 Metropolitan 203 Norfolk 11 North Wales 15 North Yorkshire 19 Northamptonshire 28 Northumbria 79 Nottinghamshire 34 South Wales 61 South Yorkshire 45 Staffordshire 11
Number Suffolk 19 Surrey 14 Sussex 2 Thames Valley 24 Warwickshire 11 West Mercia 6 West Midlands 40 West Yorkshire 130 Wiltshire 18 Total 1,638 My right hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Mr. Baker) when Home Secretary met a delegation from the greater Manchester police authority on 9 March. My predecessor as prisons Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Mrs. Rumbold), also met a delegation and visited Manchester to see Operation Container at first hand. I have had no request for a further meeting. I know that it was made clear to the delegation that although changes in the prison population made it impossible to predict when the use of police cells would cease the problem was regarded as extremely serious and the task of bringing it to an end was a top priority for the prison service.
Neither I, nor my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary regard the detention of remand or sentenced prisoners in police cells as acceptable either for the prisoners or the police. I hope that the measures which we have taken and the availability of new prison places will soon have an impact on the numbers. I cannot give a precise timetable, because the rate of progress is of course vulnerable to changes in the numbers of prisoners committed to prison by the courts.