§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average weekly cost of feeding a prisoner.
§ Mr. MellorThe average weekly cost of feeding a prisoner in penal establishments in England and Wales is £5.60.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is (a) the average amount of money earned by prisoners for prison work and (b) the range of possible earnings.
§ Mr. MellorThe average weekly earnings paid to inmates in prison service establishments in England and Wales is now £1.93. Details of the full range of earnings payable are contained in circular instruction No. 28/85, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much prisoners earn if they are unable to work owing to either lack of available work or to the unavailability of prison officers.
§ Mr. MellorInmates in prison service establishments in England and Wales for whom employment is not available are paid at the basic rate of £1.28 per week.
The rate paid to inmates who are temporarily prevented from working by the non-availability of prison officers varies according to the rules of the particular pay scheme under which they are normally paid. Generally for an initial period while action is taken to redeploy the inmates, they are paid the average rate they had been earning before the interruption.
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§ Mr. Berminghamasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state, for the latest year for which figures are available (a) the total number of persons jailed for all offences in England and Wales and (b) the total number of persons jailed in England and Wales for schedule 1 offences within the meaning of the Criminal Justice Act 1982.
§ Mr. Mellor[pursuant to his reply, 28 April 1986, c. 304]: Information on the total number of persons given immediate custodial sentences is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (table 7.15 of the volume for 1984, Cmnd. 9621) and analyses by type of offence are to be found in the supplementary tables to that publication; for example, "Criminal Statistics, Supplementary Tables 1984, volume 2, table S2/". Of the 78,000 sentenced to immediate custody in 1984, 9,600 had been convicted of offences specified in schedule 1 to the Criminal Justice Act 1982. Corresponding information for 1985 is not yet available.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many category A prisoners there are in England and Wales.
§ Mr. MellorAs at 1 May 1986 there were 314 prisoners permaneently categorised A and 133 provisionally categorised A.