§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) men and (b) women over the age of 60 years are at present serving a life prison sentence in prisons in England and Wales.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter 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. Torn Cox, dated 20 December 1994:
1204WThe Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many (a) men and (b) women over the age of sixty years are at present serving a life prison sentence in prisons in England and Wales.The latest available information is for 31 October 1994. On that date there were 155 life sentence prisoners (149 males and six females) aged over sixty years in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.
§ Mrs. PeacockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are at present serving a life sentence in the United Kingdom; and what is the total annual cost to the Exchequer.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter 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 Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock, dated 20 December 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many prisoners are at present serving a life sentence in the United Kingdom; and what is the total annual cost to the exchequer.The latest available information is for 31 October 1994. On that date there were 3,200 life sentence prisoners (3,095 males and 105 females) in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. Information for Scotland and Northern Ireland is available from the Scottish and Northern Ireland offices respectively. The average net operating cost per prisoner per week is published in the "Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts, April 1992—March 1993" (Table D, Volume 2, Cm 2385) and was £494 at 1992–93 prices.
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are serving a life prison sentence in each of the 12 European Union states.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythI regret that the information requested, is not available for states in membership of the Council of Europe other than the United Kingdom.