§ 11. Mr. Holtasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners at present serving custodial sentences aged under 25 years had been unemployed for a minimum of two years prior to arrest and conviction.
§ Mr. MellorThis information is not available.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of adult offenders convicted of indictable offences were sentenced to immediate imprisonment in 1975 and 1985, respectively.
§ Mr. MellorThe information requested is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (table 7.20 of the issue for 1985 published on 20 November). A total of 18.8 per cent. of those aged 21 and over found guilty of an indictable offence in 1985 received a sentence of immediate imprisonment; the corresponding figure for 1975 was 13.4 per cent.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the prison budget was spent on education in 1980 and 1985, respectively.
§ Mr. MellorThe amounts spent directly on education in prisons in England and Wales were £9.2 million in the financial year 1980–81 and £13.5 million in the financial year 1985–86. These amounts represent, respectively, 2.3 per cent. and 2.2 per cent. of the total expenditure on the prisons vote in the years in question. The main items of expenditure excluded from these amounts are the costs of the prison officer manpower and prison buildings used in connection with the provision of education services and the pay of vocational training and construction industry training instructors.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prisoners did not have access to in-cell sanitation at night in 1966, 1976 and 1986, respectively; and how many prisoners he can estimate will still not have access to in-cell sanitation at night by 1991.
§ Mr. MellorI regret that information about access to sanitation is not available for 1966 and 1976 in the form requested. In February 1986 there were approximately 41,200 certified places—including some temporarily out of use for refurbishment — of which approximately 22,000 had neither integral sanitation nor some means of access to sanitation. Because of the overcrowding of these cells, the average number slopping out in 1985 was about 26,000 out of an average total prison population of approximately 46,200. On the basis of the building schemes at present in progress or planned, there will be just under 20,000 places in 1991 still lacking access to sanitation. The number of prisoners slopping out in 1991 will depend on the extent to which there is still overcrowding in prisons which lack access to sanitation.
§ Mr. Meadowcroftasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners shared two or three to a cell in 1966, 1976 and 1986, respectively.
§ Mr. MellorThe highest number of prisoners in England and Wales who shared cells certified for one prisoner in 1966 was 8,700 of whom 7,206 were three to a cell and 1,494 were two to a cell.
The highest number of prisoners in England and Wales who shared cells certified for one prisoner in 1976 was 286W 16,435, of whom 5,709 were three to a cell and 10,726 were two to a cell. The highest number recorded so far in 1986 was 17,643, of whom 3,867 were three to a cell and 13,766 were two to a cell.