§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many juveniles from the North-West region were committed to borstal in the most recent year for which figures are available;
(2) what proportion of juveniles from the North-West region committed to borstal in the most recent year for which figures are available were already in the care of the local authority.
§ Mr. MayhewThe number of juveniles who were sentenced to borstal training by Crown court centres in the Northern circuit in 1980 was 347; information is not available centrally on the number of those who were in the care of a local authority. As far as we are aware the power to remove a person to borstal from the care of a local authority under section 31 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, is used very rarely: to establish the number of recent cases, if any, in the Northern circuit would involve disproportionate cost.