§ Mr. Haversasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average time now spent in custody by defendants sentenced to borstal training; and how that time is divided between prison, allocation centres and a training borstal;
(2) what proportion of defendants sentenced to borstal training spend less than eight months in custody and more than 12 months in custody, respectively;
(3) what is the average time spent in custody by those sentenced to borstal training who refuse or fail to respond to the training; and what proportion of those who are not amenable to the training are released early on that ground alone.
§ Mr. CarlisleIn England and Wales the average period spent in custody under a sentence of borstal training is currently about 10 months This period comprises one or two weeks in a local prison, four or five weeks in an allocation centre and the remainder in a training borstal About a quarter of those sentenced to borstal training are released on licence in less than eight months from their date of sentence A similar proportion remains in custody for more than 12 months It is not practicable to prepare separate figures for those who refuse or fail to respond to training but such offenders are generally among those who spend the longer period in custody No offender is released early for that reason.