§ Mr. James Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has for improving the arrangements for the treatment of the adult offender in Scotland.
§ Mr. RossI have kept in close touch with my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary about the proposals he has announced today in a White Paper. As in England and Wales, I propose, when there is an opportunity for legislation, to introduce in Scotland a system under which prisoners serving long terms of imprisonment can earn release on licence after one-third of their sentence or twelve months, whichever is the longer, has elapsed. The numbers in Scotland eligible 163W for release under these conditions will not be large, partly because Scottish courts do not send persistent petty offenders to prison for long periods; but I think it is right that in Scotland, as in England and Wales, those who are eligible under the conditions described in the White Paper should have the opportunity and encouragement of earning such earlier conditional release. I also propose that the sentences of preventive detention and corrective training should be abolished.
The allocation and classification of prisoners is at present being revised so that a more adequate assessment and a better grouping of prisoners can be secured. One result will, I hope, be to keep more of the shorter term prisoners in their prison of committal in order to help to maintain contact with their families. In Scotland we already permit transfer to a local prison for the purpose of receiving accumulated visits after one year, as is proposed for England and Wales in the White Paper.
The principles laid down in reports of the advisory council on the employment of prisoners are being applied as appropriate in Scotland. The industrial expert recently appointed to the Home Office has responsibilities also in Scotland, and we shall benefit from his expert advice. The Training for Freedom Scheme in Scotland, of which a hostel scheme forms part, has proved valuable in selected cases and will be further extended.
Notwithstanding the present economic stringency, prison building in Scotland is at present running at a rate almost twice as high as at any time before 1964. The programme at present being undertaken involves the provision of three major new establishments, one of them for women and girls, as well as extensive modernisation of existing prisons. My department is associated with the Home Office and the Ministry of Public Building and Works in the research into the design of prison accommodation now in hand.
With after-care, the task in Scotland has been to expand rapidly the manpower resources engaged. Arrangements have been made to bring the probation service into after-care work. Probation officers now look after all released women and girls who are subject to statutory after-care and all boys released from detention 164W centres; and progress is being made in associating the probation service with the after-care supervision of persons released from borstal and young offenders' institutions. In most areas in Scotland the probation service had already taken over responsibility for these groups.