§ Ms. Harmanasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why his Department has excluded practising probation officers from involvement in guardian ad-litem duties arising from the implementation of the relevant section of the Children Act 1975.
§ Mr. MellorProbation officers continue to share guardian ad-litem duties in adoption cases; they are excluded only from acting in that capacity in care proceedings.
588W
Population of borstal or youth custody centres* and staff in post on 31 May Number of prisoners on 31 May 1981 1982 †‡1983 ‡1984 Number of staffing post on 31 May 1984 Aylesbury — — 243 277 186 Bullwood Hall 122 69 59 76 ║118 Castington — — 72 178 120 Deerbolt 284 269 249 292 143 Dover 240 232 193 229 147 Drake Hall — — 44 54 ║110 East Sutton Park 31 26 28 12 ║39 Erlestoke — — 87 108 ¶114 Everthorpe 367 372 266 374 156 Exeter — — 45 44 ●273 Feltham 267 248 162 217 252 Finnamore Wood 62 64 56 76 252 Gaynes Hall 158 178 159 81 75 Glen Parva 270 291 437 491 ■328 Grendon 2 1 68 64 ║213 Guys Marsh 201 141 111 223 112 Hatfield 193 191, 163 184 107 Hewell Grange 137 123 129 133 78 Hindley 325 315 291 319 149 Hollesley Bay 270 164 319 344 296 Huntercombe 179 190 163 183 87 Lowdham Grange 220 229 194 294 126 Manchester 209 213 — — — Northallerton — — 202 214 105 Onley — — 397 413 202 Portland 534 467 388 499 223 Rochester 262 259 311 327 179 Stoke Heath 448 444 302 446 185 Styal 17 11 14 52 ||204 Swinfen Hall — — 178 180 126 USK 79 73 86 100 ¶118 Wellingborough 356 336 273 343 181 Wetherby 225 239 198 216 113 TOTAL 5,458 5,145 5,887 7,043 * Borstals on 31 May 1981 and 1982 and youth custody centres on 31 May 1983 and 1984 † The population on 31 May 1983 was reduced by the release of a large number of borstal trainees following the implementation of 24 May 1983 of the young offender provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 ‡ Including young prisoners excluding fine defaulters The implementation of further provisions of the Children Act 1975 and of certain other legislation has considerably increased the types of cases for which guardians ad-litem may be appointed. Probation officers could not have been required to undertake all this new work without detriment to their important duties in the criminal justice field.