§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the current cost of accommodation per head per week of inmates of approved schools, assessment centres, borstals and young offenders institutions.
§ Mr. BrittanIn the financial year 1978–79, the average weekly cost in 721W England and Wales of keeping a male prisoner in a borstal or young offender centre was £119 and in a detention centre £108. Approved schools ceased to exist after the enactment of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969. They were absorbed, together with assessment centres, into the system of community homes run by local authorities, and are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services.