§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to his reply of 15 May,Official Report, column 375, to the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) (a) which officers from his Department are involved in the joint examination with the Department of Employment into training and enterprise provision for offenders in the community, (b) whether a report will be produced by his Department presenting the findings of the examination and (c) whether he intends to consult relevant outside bodies during the course of the examination.
§ Mr. John PattenThere is regular contact and discussion between the Home Office, the Training Agency, the employment service and relevant voluntary organisations, in particular the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders and the APEX Trust, about training and enterprise provision for offenders in the community.
§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost of administering community service orders in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available; how many orders were made per 100,000 of the population in that year; and what was the average cost per order.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation on the expenditure of the probation service is published in "Probation Statistics England and Wales 1988" (table 12.3). In 1987–88, the probation service cost of administering community service orders was approximately £18 million and the average cost per completed order in that year was estimated at approximately £500. Using a mid-year population estimate of 40.3 million people aged 16 years and over, 87 orders were made per 100,000 of the population in 1988.