§ Ms. RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which prisons allow home leave visits for(a) foreign women prisoners and (b) female prisoners convicted of drugs importation; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydGovernors of female establishments may grant a period of home leave only to those prisoners who are eligible for home leave and who satisfy the conditions for granting such leave, as laid down in circular instruction 43/1992, a copy of which is in the Library.
§ Ms. RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of(a) women prisoners and (b) foreign women prisoners have (i) children and (ii) children aged under five years in this country; and what proportion of those children are put in care on the imprisonment of the mother.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe answers given to the national prison survey in January and February 1991 indicate that 47 per cent. of women prisoners had children under the age of 18 who were living with them just before they came into prison. At the time the survey was undertaken, 10 per cent. of these children were being looked after by foster parents, and 2 per cent. were in children's homes or in care.
A census carried out in December 1989 recorded that 28 per cent. of the sentenced women who responded had children under five years old.
There are no separate figures for foreign women from either of these sources.