§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fine and maintenance defaulters were discharged from prison in 1978 following upon the payment of their debts.
§ Mr. BrittanThe information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the proportion of fine defaulters discharged in 1978 after serving less than three days was 721W published in table 7(c) of "Prison Statistics, England and Wales, 1978" (Cmnd. 7626).
§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fine and maintenance defaulters were sent to prison in 1978; and what was the average length of sentence.
§ Mr. BrittanInformation on receptions into prison department establishments in England and Wales in default of payment of a fine and for non-payment of affiliation or maintenance orders is published annually in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales"—tables 7.1 and 6.1 of the issue for 1978, Cmnd. 7626. The average length of sentence of those received in 1978 in default of payment of a fine was 31 days and of those received for non-payment of affiliation or maintenace orders was 37 days.