§ Mr. Dellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the prison population on 31st December 1972 and on the same day on each of the previous five years; whether he intends to revise his forecast of prison population and the prison building programme in the 313W light of the latest figures; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe following table gives the number of inmates in prison service establishments in England and Wales on the relevant dates:
A general statement of the Government's policy in this field, including their plans for the prison building programme, was given on pages 62 and 63 of the recent White Paper on Public Expenditure to 1976–77 (Cmnd. 5178). As a result of a further assessment of the trends of the past few years it has been decided that planning should be on the assumption that the population of prison service establishments in England and Wales might reach 47,500 in 1976 and be in the range of 55,000–60,000 at the beginning of the 1980s. These forecasts will be kept under review as will the size and shape of the building programme, in the light, among other things, of population trends, overcrowding in prisons and the need to replace obsolete buildings.
31st December 1967 … … 33,460 31st December 1968 … … 31,694 31st December 1969 … … 35,319 31st December 1970 … … 38,982 31st December 1971 … … 37,835 31st December 1972 … … 37,692