§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total cost in the last financial year of (a) borstals (b) detention centres and (c) attendance centres and the average number of male and female children resident in each; and what was their average length of stay.
37W
§ Mr. JohnI regret that all the information is not available in the precise form requested; in particular, expenditure figures for female borstals are not separately recorded. No detention centres or attendance centres for females have been provided.
In 1974–75, the latest year for which detailed figures for costs of prison service establishments are available, net current expenditure on borstals and young prisoner centres for males was £19.1 million; and on detention centres £4.9 million. During that year the daily average population of borstals and young prisoner centres for males was 5,347, and of detention centres 1,594. The average period between date of sentence and discharge from borstal training is estimated to have been about 40 weeks and the average period of detention in a detention centre about eight weeks. The daily average population in borstals for females was 165.
In 1974–75 expenditure on senior attendance centres was £3,150, and on junior centres £101,150. In the calendar year 1974 the courts made 8,703 attendance centre orders in respect of boys under 17 and 260 orders in respect of older offenders. The average length of attendance could not be calculated without disproportionate cost, but the aggregate number of hours of attendance ordered may not exceed 24 and, except in the case of a child under 14, may not be less than 12.