§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the average length of time taken to answer petitions addressed to the Home Secretary by prisoners in England and Wales, submitted during 1981, and whether in the case of petitions which take more than six months to answer, they will give the prisoner concerned an interim reply explaining the reasons for the delay.
§ Lord EltonInformation needed to calculate the average for 1981 is not kept centrally but from a sample of petitions in the period 1st October to 31st December 1981 it is estimated that the average time taken for a prisoner to receive a reply from the day on which he hands out the completed petition was about 45 days. I agree that where a petition has been outstanding for more than six months the prisoner should be given an explanatory interim reply and I will ensure that our procedures are modified, if necessary, to achieve this.