§ Lord Ferrers has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of escapes from Group 4 escorts in East Midlands and Humberside.
§ Between the commencement of the service on 5th April 1993 and 20th May 1994, there have been a total of 28 escapes (excluding 19 prisoners immediately recaptured). The Group 4 court escort and custody service covers work previously undertaken by both the prison and police services within the contract area. In their first year of operation Group 4 carried out a total of 100,656 prisoner movements and the escape statistics should be seen in that context.