HC Deb 27 April 1999 vol 330 cc110-1W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the prisoners released on home detention curfew on or since 28 January have(a) been returned to custody and (b) committed offences whilst on curfew. [81948]

Mr. George Howarth

Between 28 January and 21 April, 3,953 offenders have been made subject to home detention curfew. In the same period, 166 curfewees have had their licences revoked by the Secretary of State and 140 have been returned to custody.

Home Office Circular 1/1999 requires the police to inform the Prison Service parole unit when a curfewee is charged with an offence. Between 28 January and 21 April, the parole unit has been notified of 40 such cases. As a result, 26 curfewees have had their licences revoked immediately under Section 38A(1) or Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. In the remaining 14 cases, either the police or the probation service have been asked to pursue breach action through the courts under section 38(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991.

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what difficulties there have been with the equipment used to enforce home detention curfews, with particular reference to multi-storey dwellings, hostels and farms. [81953]

Mr. George Howarth

In a small number of cases, it was initially difficult to set curfew ranges for premises in multiple occupation or of unusual shape or size; but the contractors have been able to meet these problems by installing additional monitoring equipment, re-calibrating curfew ranges or restricting the curfewee to certain areas of the property.

Any address that is not technically suitable for monitoring will be reported to the Parole Unit of the Prison Service, which will consider whether to recall the offender to prison. To date, there have been no such reports.