§ Mr. Ridleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish estimates for the year 1970, 1974, and the latest year for which figures are available, of (a) the cost of enforcing court orders for maintenance payments in divorce cases, and the number of cases involved, (b) the number of defaulters on maintenance in prison and the approximate costs of their imprisonment, (c) the number of defaulters on maintenance tried in court, and the cost of their trials in approximate terms, and (d) the number of divorce cases in which the courts were responsible for the collection of maintenance payments and the costs of administration involved.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe only information available centrally relates to part (b) of the question. On 30 June 1978 220 people were in prison in England and Wales for non-payment of maintenance for a wife or child. The corresponding figure for 1974 was 214; that for 1970 is not available. During the current financial year the weekly cost of keeping a person in custody has been about £112.