§ Mr. Nigel EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the highest number of escapes in a week from the prison escort service(a) since 1988 and (b) since Group 4 Security has operated the service.
§ 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. Nigel Evans, dated June 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the highest number of escapes in a week from the Prison Escort Service (a) since 1988 and (b) since Group 4 Court Services Ltd has operated the service.
From 1988 until Group 4 Court Services Ltd became involved in the Court Escort Service, the highest number of prisoners who escaped in one week was 12. On 5 April 1993 Group 4 Court Services Ltd began operating in one area, the East Midlands and Humberside—replacing both Prison Service and the substantially more numerous police escorts in 261W that area. Since 5 April the highest number of prisoner escapes in one week, up to the end of May, was 6. These figures include all escorts from prisons in England and Wales staffed by Prison Service personnel or Group 4 Court Services Ltd staff, but excludes escapes from police escort.
This information is derived from incidents reported to the Incident Management Support Unit, a part of the Directorate of Custody.
Investigation Accountant inspector and support staff from his firm including disbursements Legal inspector and support including disbursements Total cost £ £ £ Guinness Plc 1,510,000 389,000 1,899,000 Pennine Commercial Holdings Plc 343,000 34,000 377,000 James Ferguson Holdings Plc Barlow Clowes Gilt Managers Limited 3,748,000 1,350,000 5,098,000 Consolidated Gold Fields Plc 2,949,000 299,000 3,248,000 Atlantic Computers Plc Atlantic Computer Systems Plc 4,036,000 1,460,000 5,496,000 London United Investments Plc CR Driver and Company Limited 1,805,000 394,000 2,199,000 Wace UK Holdings Limited Tinsley Robor Plc European Colour Plc — — 1222,000 Mirror Group Newspapers Plc 2,321,000 412,000 2,733,000 1 Inspectors are both DTI officers.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the total cost of each of the company investigations completed by his Department during the year to 31 March and the manner in which such costs have been disbursed to the relevant individual inspectors.
Investigation Accountant inspector and support staff from his firm including disbursements Legal inspector and support including disbursements Total cost £ £ £ National Westminster Bank Plc 2,101,000 477,000 2,578,000 Norton Group Plc 842,000 156,000 998,000 Edencorp Leisure Plc — — 1207,000 James Neill Holdings Plc; Francis Industries Limited; FH Lloyd Holdings Plc; The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company; Metal Closures Group Plc; Winchmore Pic 129,000 125,000 254,000 1 Inspectors were both DTI officers.