81 . Brigadier Clarkeasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has now considered the recommendations of the Report of the Committee on Discharged Prisoners Aid Societies; and what action he proposes to take.
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§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeI have decided to implement, in the coming financial year, those of the Committee's recommendations which deal with the payment to aid societies of an Exchequer grant equal to half their approved expenditure on administration and on the provision of necessary clothing for prisoners on discharge. Iam also arranging, as the Committee recommends, for any immediate subsistence needs of prisoners on discharge to be met from public funds and for prison governors to have discretion to pay a prisoner's fare to any place within the British Isles to which it seems desirable in his best interests for him to go.
On the other recommendations of the Committee which turn on the appointment of prison welfare officers in local prisons, I propose to reserve my decision until I have been able fully to explore their financial and administrative implications and to take account of the considered views of the local aid societies.