§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what surveys are currently being carried out to assess the effectiveness of community service orders; how many experiments are in progress; what is the cost to date of these 562W experiments; and what are his interim conclusions.
§ Mr. CarterAlthough Articles 7–13 of the Treatment of Offenders (NI) Order 1976 make legislative provision for community service orders, they have not yet been introduced because of staff shortages in the Probation Service. It is planned to initiate a pilot scheme in about a year's time. Accordingly no experiments are in progress to assess the effectiveness of community service orders.