§ Mr. Englishasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for selected years from 1938, perhaps at quinquennial intervals, the surplus or deficit of prison accommodation in relation to prisoners on the assumption that if there were no deficit no prisoner would have to share a cell with any other.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe information is as follows:
Year Daily average population Certified normal accommodation on 31st December 1938 … 11,086 15,778 1948 … 19,765 19,754 1953 … 23,610 22,467 1958 … 25,379 24,350 1963 … 30,896 29.026 1968 … 32,461 32,474 1973 … 36,774 36,391 1977 … 41,570 37,520
§ Mr. Englishasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for selected years from 1938, perhaps 574W at quinquennial intervals, the weighted average age of prison accommodation, namely, weighting the age of each prison by the number of inmates or the accommodation there, whichever is the greater.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe information in the form requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Details of the date establishments were first used for the custody of offenders and of their certified normal accommodation are given in Appendix A to "Prisons and the Prisoner" published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office at the end of last year. Apart from the subsequent reconstruction of some of the establishments, most have been added to, and improved, over the years.