§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of(a) demand for and (b) availability of legal visiting facilities for category A remand residents at (i) Belmarsh and (ii) other prisons; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Peter Bottomley dated July 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question about the demand and availability of legal visit facilities for Category A remand prisoners at HM Prison Belmarsh and other establishments.It is for the governor of each establishment to monitor the demand for legal visiting facilities to ensure that adequate facilities are available to members of the legal profession so that they can conduct interviews with remand prisoners in the interests of the criminal justice system.In the case of Belmarsh, there are adequate facilities to cope with the normal demand for legal visits requested by category A prisoners and the governor has made available additional facilities to deal with any urgent or immediate request which cannot be accommodated in the usual way.