HC Deb 04 March 1994 vol 238 cc932-3W
Mr. Maclennan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many appointments made by legal representatives of prisoners at Her Majesty's prison Whitemoor have been incorrectly scheduled by the prison officials since 20 December 1992;

(2) how long legal representatives have to wait, on average, to see their clients in Her Majesty's prison Whitemoor when appointments have been previously made.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Responsibility 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. Robert Maclennan, dated 4 March 1994: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your two recent Questions about visits to prisoners at Whitemoor prison by their legal representatives. There is no record of any incorrectly scheduled appointments at Whitemoor since 20 December 1992. The average time taken to bring a prisoner to meet his legal representative is about ten minutes, but if the prisoner has chosen to go to work or classes instead of waiting in his cell, it will take longer to bring him to the visiting area. If you have any specific details about cases of incorrectly scheduled appointments, I would be happy to arrange to have these investigated further.