§ Mr. AlexanderTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake a review of the number of bail lodging places since the coming into force of the Social Security Act 1988.
§ Mr. John PattenI see no need for such a review at the moment in the light of other measures we are already taking to increase the accommodation available for bailees. The target for the bail hostel development programme has been considerably increased to 1,000 new places by April 1993. Planned expansion in bail information schemes should allow the number of courts being served to increase from the current 45 to 100 courts by April 1992. We are also examining ways of increasing accommodation in the community for bailees and how bail information schemes and accommodation networks can best be developed.