§ Mr. Gareth WardellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to transfer the holding of remand prisoners from police cells to military camps.
§ Mrs. RumboldRemand prisoners have to be held in secure accommodation near the courts which have remanded them so that they may be escorted to and from the court for remand hearings. Military accommodation is not generally suitable for this role, although it has been used to hold sentenced prisoners in times of severe overcrowding. The present position is that industrial action has prevented the prison service from using existing prison places in order to avoid using police cells. But prison service management continues to work to gain access to accommodation and to use the prison estate flexibly.