§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there is now a centralised computer register of all persons detained in one of Her Majesty's penal institutions in England, Scotland, 99WA Wales and Northern Ireland respectively and if so whether any police force in the United Kingdom can access such a register directly and, if such a facility is not available, when the Government expect to make it available.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch)There is a centralised computer register of all persons detained in Her Majesty's penal institutions in England and Wales. This register has been operational since March 1991, and is updated electronically every day by each prison's local computer system. The central database does not include computer details of persons held in Scotland or Northern Ireland which are outside the jurisdiction of HM Prison Service in England and Wales.
The system is not available on line to any police force but administrative arrangements exist to provide information from the system quickly whenever required.
On-line access to police forces may well be included in future initiatives of the Committee for Co-ordination of Computerisation of the Criminal Justice System, relating to the transfer of information between the criminal justice organisations. A pilot exercise, involving the local forces, probation service, prisons and courts, to establish the benefits of transferring information by use of E-Mail, is under way in Suffolk and Hampshire.
The Scottish Prison Service installed a networked Prisoner Records database in all Scottish prisons during 1995. This contains information on all prisoners in Scottish prisons and is accessible from all establishments and Scottish Prison Service headquarters. Some work has been carried out on the scope for developing an integrated communications network to enable Scottish criminal justice agencies, including prisons, police forces and the courts, to share information of common interest. No decision has been taken regarding an implementation date. Meanwhile, however, there is close co-operation between the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish police forces in matters of criminal intelligence.
The Northern Ireland position is that at present a centralised computer register of all persons detained in HM penal establishments in Northern Ireland does not exist. However, we are currently considering options for the development of existing computer systems to provide a central register. Options for information sharing between agencies within the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland are also being examined.