§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department(a) briefed and 1011W (b) made copies of the reports available to the media on inner city riots and urban race relations before they were published on 11 December. [23216]
§ Mr. BlunkettThe information is as follows:
(a) I gave a broad interview toThe Independent on Sunday newspaper on Friday 7 December 2001 on the subject of citizenship. Nothing in the article had not already been said or written by me, including in the publication of my book 'Politics and Progress' on 26 September 2001. The resulting article provoked considerable interest from the media particularly those looking to associate issues arising from this interview with the publication of reports into the summer disturbances, due a few days later. To ensure people clearly understood my position on this and in response to media inquiries, the press office gave a general explanation of how the subject of citizenship was reflected in reports into the disturbances.
(b) No copies of the reports were made available to the media before they were published. The first time media had access to the reports produced by the Home Office was when they attended a press briefing on the morning
1012W
Prison name Escapes Assault rate (Percentage) Random mandatory drug testing rate (Percentage) Purposeful activity1 Average days lost to staff sickness Cost per place Cost per prisoner Acklington 0 1.8 16.1 23.6 11.2 15,493 16,207 Albany 0 2.3 0.0 25.3 10.9 20,909 21,112 Altcourse 0 14.9 10.1 33.7 — 57,272 44,272 Ashfield 0 70.8 16.5 29.0 — 35,712 38,968 Ashwell 0 1.8 8.3 32.1 12.7 15,357 19,716 Askham Grange 0 2.8 3.5 41.8 8.2 20,202 21,629 Aylesbury 0 17.8 5.8 17.2 21.1 25,594 30,856 Bedford 0 10.7 16.8 21.3 20.1 22,238 19,656 Belmarsh 0 14.6 13.6 11.1 23.3 35,860 34,286 Birmingham 0 11.1 17.0 18.7 18.2 22,138 19,195 Blakenhurst 0 11.7 28.2 19.8 5.6 22,552 17,477 Blantyre House 0 0.0 3.8 50.3 9.4 20,777 21,520 Blundeston 0 3.3 10.1 25.6 7.9 22,947 23,665 Brinsford 0 50.9 10.7 27.6 9.2 15,897 16,932 Bristol 0 11.8 12.6 20.7 16.6 34,068 30,171 Brixton 1 13.2 8.6 16.6 27.4 29,492 24,850 Brockhill 0 28.2 6.5 16.5 22.4 30,515 33,295 Buckley Hall 0 3.2 20.5 31.9 14.9 17,795 16,446 Bullingdon 0 7.2 15.0 13.7 11.4 19,125 16,761 Bullwood Hall 0 37.9 8.8 26.8 16.1 22,667 24,348 Camp Hill 0 4.5 13.9 22.5 12.1 20,846 19,006 Canterbury 0 4.3 12.6 17.9 16.4 30,876 21,923 Cardiff 0 7.3 25.6 21.2 13.2 23,511 19,588 Castington 0 69.3 7.2 24.8 16.4 27,963 37,611 Channings Wood 0 1.8 6.5 33.8 13.2 18,581 18,857 Chelmsford 0 14.0 16.1 20.0 13.0 25,057 24,813 Coldingley 0 1.9 14.3 39.0 8.7 21,253 21,740 Cookham Wood 0 24.3 3.0 22.1 16.5 28,475 23,021 Dartmoor 0 6.0 2.1 21.4 12.5 20,831 24,050 Deerbolt 0 11.2 6.1 21.8 9.3 20,098 24,948 Doncaster 1 9.9 11.2 20.1 — 28,169 20,268 Dorchester 0 11.1 19.1 16.4 10.4 31,219 23,117 Dovegate 0 8.2 8.1 31.6 — 2— 2— Dover 0 18.5 17.0 27.7 16.5 21,211 30,115 Downview 0 0.0 4.9 26.7 19.1 20,337 26,296 Drake Hall 0 1.5 12.8 36.4 10.7 16,147 22,333 Durham 0 11.8 13.6 20.7 12.0 33,937 31,449 East Sutton Park 0 0.0 3.0 43.3 14.9 21,396 21,560 Eastwood Park 0 20.8 8.4 20.1 25.7 21,888 20,601 Elmley 0 6.2 11.8 19.4 11.1 18,910 15,766 Erlestoke 0 0.0 17.7 27.7 14.7 18,777 19,224 of publication. I did not make my speech in Birmingham until 11.30 am to ensure that this did not pre-empt publication of the reports.