HL Deb 10 February 1994 vol 551 cc63-4WA
Baroness Faithfull

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the estimate in the financial memorandum to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill that the overall cost, including supervision in the community, of the secure training order will be over £30 million in a year means that (assuming that 200 children are in the centres and 200 under after-care supervision at one time) the average cost per child of detention or supervision will be approximately £1,500 a week or £75,000 a year; and by what ratio will the weekly cost of detention in a centre exceed the weekly cost of after-care supervision.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)

The figure provided in the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum was a best estimate of the total annual expenditure expected on secure training orders. Because secure training centres and related services will be provided after a period of competitive tendering, it is not possible to produce precise estimates of the average annual cost of a secure training order. For similar reasons it is not possible to give the ratio between the relative costs of detention in the centre and post-release supervision.