§ 38. Mr. Awberyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were committed to prison during the year 1961 for civil debts; how many of these were offences committed in connection with defalcations on hire-purchase payments; and what was the average period of sentence.
§ Mr. Fletcher-Cooke8,734 men and 207 women were committed to prison in England and Wales in 1961 for nonpayment of debt. Hire-purchase cases would be included in the committals from county courts, totalling 5,506 men and 7 women; but the records do not distinguish such cases. I regret that the other information asked for is not available.
§ 49. Miss Vickersasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons have been committed to prison for debt at the present time; and how many were committed for this cause in 1959–60 and 1961.
§ Mr. Fletcher-Cooke7,837 were committed during 1959, 7,788 during 1960, and 8,941 during 1961. The figures include committals for non-payment of rates, Income Tax and wife maintenance orders, as we'll as commercial debts.
The number of those so committed during the present year is not immediately available.