§ The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question about the costs of court escort and custody work.
§ Court escort and custody work has been the responsibility of individual prison establishments and police forces: information on costs is not centrally collected but a study in 1991 estimated the costs then at £92m. A number of studies have indicated that the provision of a contracted out, unitary service dedicated to court escort and custody work would reduce costs although the estimates of percentage savings have varied from study to study. Detailed costing work is undertaken as each area of the country is considered for contracting out.