§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers have been seriously assaulted in 1993; and if he will provide details.
§ 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 D. Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 18 October 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of officers who have been seriously assaulted in 1993.Central records provisionally show that in the first nine months of 1993 there were 1,915 cases proved at adjudication where the charge was an actual assault on a member of staff or other person (not including an inmate). There were a further 166 cases proved of attempted assault. No other relevant details are held centrally.
§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many alleged offences in prisons have been referred to the police, and in how many cases prosecutions have ensued, since the abolition of boards of visitors adjudications.
§ 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 D. Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 18 October 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the referral to the police of alleged offences by prisoners.The full information you request is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. In a survey for the year starting in April 1992, 98 prisons gave the following information:
- 547 alleged offences by prisoners were referred to the police
- 121 were still current at the time of the survey
- 176 had gone to court
- 187 had not been pursued by the police
- 54 had not been pursued by the CPS
- 9 cases had no information recorded on the outcome.
§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the numbers of assaults on prison officers per 100 prisoners at each prison in England and Wales for each quarter since 1986.
§ 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 D. Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 18 October 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the numbers of assaults on prison officers per 100 prisoners at each prison in England and Wales for each quarter since 1986.The available information is for the number of assaults proved at adjudication under the prison discipline system. Data are not available prior to April 1989 as assaults on prison officers, staff, 131W inmates and others (other than gross personal violence to an officer) were grouped together in a single category. The information for April to December 1989, for 1990 and 1991 was published in successive volumes of "Statistics of offences against prison discipline and punishments, England and Wales" (Cm. 1236 for 1989, Cm. 1651 for 1990, Cm. 2066 for 1991). For convenience I enclose copies of the relevant tables.Provisional information for 1992–93 and for the six months April to September 1993 is enclosed. I regret that more detailed information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many breaches of prison discipline occurred(a) in the 12 months before and (b) in the 12 months after the abolition of boards of visitors adjudications.
§ 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 D. Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 18 October 1993:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about breaches of prison discipline in the twelve months before and after the abolition of boards of visitor adjudications.The disciplinary role of the boards ceased with effect from 1 April 1992. In the twelve months from April 1992 to March 1993 there were 89,163 proven offences compared with 89,050 in the previous twelve months.