§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what has been the average occupancy at Winson Green prison in each of the last five years; [7954]
(2) what has been the average prison officer establishment at Winson Green prison in each of the last five years. [7955]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for these matters has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Pearson to Dr. Lynne Jones, dated 11 January 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Questions about the average prisoner population and the average number of prison officers at Birmingham prison in each of the last five years.The average prisoner population over the last five years is shown in table one, attached.The average number of officers working in each of the last five years is given in table two.
Table 1 Year Average prisoner population 1991 956 1992 911 1993 793 1994 752 19951 839 1 until end November.
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Table 2 Year Number of discipline officers Discipline officers plus miscellaneous officers such as trades and catering officers 1991 364 448 1992 378 461 1993 372 454
Table 2 Year Number of discipline officers Discipline officers plus miscellaneous officers such as trades and catering officers 1994 345 425 1995 348 429 The figure for 1991 are not exact as the method of recording the information at that time was not completely reliable.
§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the total cost of running Winson Green prison in each of the last five years at(a) actual prices and (b) current prices; and what are the budgets for 1995–96 and 1996–97. [7956]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Dr. Lynne Jones, dated 11 January 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the cost of running Birmingham prison.The total net operating costs for the years 1990–91 to 1994–95 at actual and current prices and the present budget for 1995–96 are set out in the attached table. The budget for 1996–97 has not yet been decided.
Financial year Actual prices £ million 1995–96 prices £ million 1990–91 14.9 17.7 1991–92 16.9 18.9 1992–93 17.7 19.1 1993–94 15.7 16.4 1994–95 16.1 16.5 1995–96 16.8 16.8 The costs for the years 1990–91 to 1992–93 are calculated on a different basis to later years in that they include notional charges for opportunity cost of rent and depreciation.