Category A Committee

HC Deb 04 April 1989 vol 150 c36W

Mr. Livingstone

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the role and composition of the category A committee.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

The role of the committee is twofold:

• (i) to consider whether prisoners recently convicted of very serious crimes should be placed in security category A, which is reserved for those inmates whose escape from prison custody would be highly dangerous to the public or to the police or to the security of the State;
• (ii) to review, at least annually, the cases of all those who have been made category A;

and to make recommendations to the Director General of the Prison Service.

The committee comprises senior officials of prison service headquarters, governors of prisons normally holding category A prisoners, and a senior police officer.