§ Mr. IrvineTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what conclusions he has reached following the consultation process on the consultation paper "Bail Accommodation and Secure Bail Hostels" which was issued on 13 February.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThere were 62 responses made to the consultation paper "Bail Accommodation and Secure Bail Hostels". Most respondents pressed for more bail hostel and other accommodation in the community to be provided so that defendants without a fixed address could be bailed instead of being remanded in custody. The Government's current bail accommodation expansion programme aims to deliver 500 new bail places by April 1991. We have decided in addition to examine how low-cost hostels or networks of lodgings could be provided by the voluntary or private sectors; how private sector involvement in provision of bail hostels can be increased; how national standards for bail hostels can be drawn up; and how bail information schemes and accommodation networks can be integrated effectively. We have decided not to embark on the development of secure bail hostels for the time being. We want to see what the impact of this further programme of work aimed at expanding existing accommodation will be. There are other issues still under consideration: the part that hostels can play in a strategy for dealing with mentally disturbed defendants and how hostels can best respond to the needs of ethnic minorities and women.