§ Mr. MYERSasked the Home Secretary (1) the cost per head of the maintenance of persons undergoing sentences for criminal offences in Great Britain;
(2) the cost per head of the maintenance of adult paupers in Poor Law institutions throughout Great Britain, and the cost per head of the maintenance, as distinct from education, of pauper children?
§ Sir J. BAIRDI can only give the figures for England and Wales, and I assume "cost of maintenance" to mean the cost of victualling, clothing, bedding, medicines and similar requirements, and the cost of warming, lighting, cleaning, etc. On this basis the cost per head for maintenance in prisons and Borstal institutions for the year ending the 31st March, 1920—the latest period for which figures are available—was £27 1s. 3d. As regards paupers, I am informed by the Ministry of Health that the main-1392W tenance of adults cannot be separated from that of the children living in the same institutions. For the year ending the 31st March, 1920, the average cost of maintenance per head for inmates of general Poor Law institutions was about £32; and the average cost of maintenance for children in separate Poor Law homes for children was £27 19s. 0d.