§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the extent to which the recommendations and undertakings made in the then Minister of State's statement of 23 November 1992,Official Report, columns 481–82, regarding temporary transfers of Irish prisoners to prisons in Northern Ireland have not yet been implemented, and the reasons for this;
(2) if he will make a statement on the reasons why prisoners' requests lodged with the Home Office since November 1992 for transfer to prison establishments in Northern Ireland have yet to be decided;
(3) how many requests for transfers to prisons in Northern Ireland have been lodged with the Home Office in each of the last five years; and how many have been granted, refused or are undecided.
§ Mr. Peter LloydOn 23 November 1992, the Government accepted the recommendation made by an interdepartmental working group on the transfer of prisoners that prisoners refused a permanent transfer to another United Kingdom jurisdiction should be considered for a extended temporary transfer. Implementation of this recommendation has been delayed because of subsequent concerns about the legal position.
The information requested on the number of requests made by prisoners to transfer to Northern Ireland and the outcome of these is given in the table.
Requests made by prisoners to transfer to Northern Ireland 1989 1990 1991 1992 11993 Requests received 55 59 80 68 33 Granted 15 3 18 13 5 Refused 40 36 30 24 9 Withdrawn 3 6 14 11 5 Note:
Requests made in any given year may have been decided in a later year. 1Total number of requests undetermined at the end of 1993=69.