§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to meet representatives of the newly formed Association of Members of Boards of Prison Visitors; if he will release to them the names of all boards of prison visitors; and if he will make a statement on the establishment of the Association of Boards of Prison Visitors.
§ Mr. MayhewOfficers of the Association of Members of Boards of Visitors have been invited to meet officials of the prison department. If the association were to make a request for the names of individual members of boards of visitors, my right hon. Friend would be prepared to consider it. As representatives of boards were told at their annual conference on 15 October 1980, he has no objection to the establishment of an association of members of boards of visitors. It is a matter for individual members themselves to decide whether they wish to join the association which has now been formed.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to amend the rules governing the appointment, procedures and duties of boards of prison visitors.
§ Mr. MayhewNone; but if borstal training were to be replaced by a determinate sentence, as proposed in the White Paper "Young Offenders" (Cmnd. 8045), this would abolish the duty currently placed on some boards of visitors to make recommendations about the timing of release of borsal trainees under rule 7 of the Borstal Rules—SI 1964 No. 387.