§ Ms Janet AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of likely changes in the prison population over the next three years. [22707]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Ms Janet Anderson, dated 29 March 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking what estimate has been made of likely changes in the projected prison population of England and Wales over the next three years.
The latest long term prison population projections will be published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 4/96 'Projections of the Long Term Trends in the Prison Population to 2004' on 2 April. A copy will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
789WThe average prison population is expected to be 53,500 in 1997; 54,300 in 1998; and 55,100 in 1999. The long-term prison population projections do not take account of the sentencing proposals to be outlined in the forthcoming White Paper.