§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases staff shortages at Aldington prison have been the reason for the non-production of prisoners in court in the past 12 months.
§ 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 Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 5 July 1994:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of occasions in the past 12 months on which staff shortages at Aldington prison have been responsible for the non-production of prisoners in court.Aldington is a small prison which receives few requests to produce prisoners for court appearances. Other establishments are advised not to send to Aldington prisoners who will need to be produced at court. Until recently, there has been no system at the prison for recording such requests. It is known that the obligation to produce prisoners for Crown Court appearances has been fulfilled without exception. In the absence of any statistics, however, it is not possible to give any precise figures about productions at Magistrates courts.A system of recording all requests for production, including the reasons for any cancellations, has now been introduced at Aldington.