§ Mr. WellsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were being held in police custody in England and Wales on the most recent date for which figures are available; what was the number at the beginning of October in the current year; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdOn 4 October 1,917 prisoners were held in police custody in England and Wales; by 10 November the number had fallen to 1,223 a reduction of 694. This reduction has been brought about by the recent suspension of industrial action at those local prisons where branches of the Prison Officers' Association were refusing to accept prisoners from the police. Numbers will continue to fall as those prisons build up to capacity and as more of the extra prison places which I undertook in March to provide throughout this year are delivered. For example, Ashford remand centre re-opened on 9 November, and will provide 400 places for prisoners who would otherwise have been held in police cells. This, together with other place-producing measures which we have in hand, enables us to prepare to close the temporary prisons at Army camps on Salisbury plain and at Camberley before the end of the year as planned. Rollestone camp will close today and Alma Dettingen barracks on 15 December.