§ Mr. Cyril Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time taken between the listing of appeals against refusal of entry decisions by would-be immigrants and the date of hearing such appeals.
§ Dr. SummerskillI assume that the hon. Member is asking about appeals against the decisions of entry clearance officers. The average time which elapses between notice of the appeal being re-
312Wchild detained under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.
§ Mr. JohnThe average time for which young people are detained under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 does not show the very wide variation that occurs. The distribution of the time between sentence and release of those released from Prison Service establishments or community homes during 1976 and the first 10 months of 1977 is given in the following table.
1933; and how long each of them has been so detained.
§ Mr. JohnThe information relating to those detained at 31st October 1977 is as follows:
ceived at the post abroad and it being listed for hearing by the appellate authorities is approximately seven to eight months, but this average conceals wide variations from post to post. The appeal is heard on average two to three months after it has been listed for hearing, but the time varies between different appeal centres.