§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of(a) boys and (b) girls under the age of 16 years who were being held in prisons in England and Wales as of 19 June. [31099]
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 26 June 1995]: Responsibility 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 Brian Landers to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 6 July 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question asking for the number of (a) boys and (b) girls under the age of 16 years who were being held in prisons in England and Wales as of 19 June.The latest available provisional information is for 30 April 1995. On that date 187 ma!es (52 remand and 135 sentenced) and 4 females (all sentenced) aged under 16 were held in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. Information on the juvenile prison population is published in successive volumes of "Prison Statistics England and Wales" (Table 3.2 of the 1992 edition, Cm 2581), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.