§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the role of voluntary family support groups in respect of the enhancement of family-prisoner links and the successful resettlement of prisoners on release;
(2) how much money and what proportion of the prison service budget was allocated in (a) 1991, (b) 1992 and (c) 1993 to fund prisoners' families support groups.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for these matters has been delegated to the Director General of the prison service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Simon Hughes, dated 1 November 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the role of voluntary support groups in enhancing prisoners' family links, and about the amount and proportion of the Prison Service Budget which has been allocated to prisoners' family support groups in the years 1991 to 1993 inclusive.The Prison Service gives a high priority towards helping prisoners to maintain close and meaningful links with their families which will help them to resettle in the community on release. We recognise that prisoners' family support groups can play an extremely valuable part in this process.There is no provision in the Prison Service Vote for making regular grants to these voluntary groups. However, over the two most recently completed financial years the Minister of State has authorised one-off payments totalling £75,000 to assist groups in exceptional circumstances.