HC Deb 15 April 1993 vol 222 cc726-8W
Ms Ruddock

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has about the proportion of sentenced male and female prisoners respectively who spent some or all of their childhood in care.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

[holding answer 14 April 1993]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Mr. D. Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 15 April 1993: I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the proportion of the prison population who have been in care. In answer to the question "were you ever taken into Local Authority care as a child up to the age of 16?" in the National Prison Survey, which was carried out in January and February 1991, 25 per cent. of sentenced male and 21 per cent. of sentenced female prisoners said they had been taken into care.