§ Ms. HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what extra staffing will be required to make sure that at least two principal Sunday services are available to prisoners between the hours of 9 am and I am on Sunday mornings if proposals to close Roman Catholic chapels in prisons are implemented;
(2) what consultation there has been with all denominations, both within the prison service chaplaincy and within the local hierarchies of the denominations concerned in areas where prison establishments are situated, on the proposals to close Roman Catholic chapels in prisons;
(3) what proposals there are to close Roman Catholic chapels in prison establishments where there is more than one dedicated worship place.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggSince the early 1970s, with the full agreement of the Prison Service Chaplaincy and the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, a single shared chapel has been provided in all prison establishments except those very large prisons where two separate chapels110W are considered operationally necessary. There are no proposals for closing any of he existing Roman Catholic chapels and the question of extra staffing has not therefore arisen.