§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the 137 full submissions referred to in Mr. Lewis's letter of resignation which the prison service were required to submit to the Home Office between October 1994 and January 1995 together with the name of the addressee. [38860]
§ Miss WiddecombeNo. The advice given to Ministers is confidential.
§ Mr. McFallTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on what date the director general of the prison service provided evidence to the inquiry; and on how many occasions he was called out of the interview on the instructions of Ministers, as described in paragraph 3.81 of the report of the Learmont inquiry; [38863]
(2) on how many occasions the then Minister of State, the right hon. Member for Stirling, called out the director general of the prison service from his interview, as described in paragraph 3.85 of the Learmont report; and what was the nature of the business which necessitated this action. [38864]
§ Miss WiddecombeThe former director general, Mr. Lewis, was interviewed by members of the inquiry team on five occasions. The interview referred to in paragraph 3.85 of Sir John Learmont's report took place on 29 March 1995. On this occasion, the beginning of the interview was delayed, there was an early adjournment for lunch, and Mr. Lewis was called out on one occasion during the afternoon, because my right hon. Friend the Member for Stirling, who was then Minister of State, requested urgent briefing about matters which were the subject of media interest and on which radio and television interviews had been requested. These matters included the market testing programme, the rise in the prison population, and the high intensity training scheme.
770W