§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Nigerians are currently in prison in Britain for drugs-related offences; how many are men and how many are women; and what percentage of Nigerian women make up of the total female prison population in Britain.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility 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 A. J. Butler to Mr. Tony Worthington, dated 31 March 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking how many Nigerians are currently in prison in Britain for drugs related offences; how many are men and how many are women; and what percentage of Nigerian women make up the total female prison population in Britain.
The latest available provisional information is for 31 December 1993. On that date 103 Nigerians (of whom 63 were male and 40 were female) were recorded centrally as being held in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales under sentence for a drugs offence which was the principal offence. On the same date 71 or 4.5 per cent. of the total female prison population in England and Wales were Nigerian women. Within the total prison population the type of offence was not recorded for about 6 per cent. of sentenced prisoners.
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