Prisons (Hansard, 28 January 2004)

§ Mr. Oaten
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the review of prison industries conducted by the Prison Service has been completed; and if a copy of the review will be placed in the Library. [143294]

§ Paul Goggins
An internal review of the strategic oversight and management of public sector prison industries in England and Wales was completed earlier this year. The report of the prison industries review was written for internal discussion, and contains proposals for improving the way in which prison industries are operated and managed. These proposals are now being implemented. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.

§ Mrs. Gillan
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people have been held in prisons in each year since 1997; [147355]
(2) how many prisoners have been held in police cells in each year since 1997 because of overcrowding in the Prison Service; [147357]
(3) how many (a) convicted prisoners and (b) remand prisoners who should have been in a prison establishment have been held in police cells in each year since 1997. [147376]

§ Paul Goggins
Information on the annual average population in prison and in police cells by type of custody is given in table 1.3 of Prison Statistics England and Wales, 1997 to 2002. Copies of Prison Statistics England and Wales are available in the Library.

§ Mrs. Gillan
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to reduce prison overcrowding in the next two years. [147360]

§ Paul Goggins
On 6 January a radical reform of the management of offenders was announced with the publication of the document 'Reducing Crime—Changing Lives'. The overriding purpose of the reforms is to improve the management of offenders and reduce re-offending. Offenders for whom prison is the right penalty will continue to be sent to prison. But there are many offenders for whom tough non-custodial penalties will be more appropriate. Our proposals will provide sentencers with a full range of penalties and advice on what is most likely to be effective in reducing re-offending in particular circumstances.