HL Deb 20 January 1997 vol 577 cc46-8WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their estimate of the number of prostitutes currently aged less than 18 years.

Baroness Blatch

The information as requested is not available.

Data for England and Wales on the number of females aged under 18 cautioned or convicted in 1995, the latest year available, for offences under the Street Offences Act 1959 Section 1 are given in the table below.

Lexicon to be given permission to publish, on their web site, all public domain material produced by the Prison Service.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)

Responsibility for the subject of this Question has been delegated to the Northern Ireland Prison Service under its chief executive, Mr. Alan Shannon. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Lord Avebury from the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, Mr. Alan Shannon, dated 16th January 1997.

Baroness Denton has asked me to reply to the parliamentary Question which you tabled asking why the Northern Ireland Prison Service referred to HMSO's Copyright Unit a request from the Penal Lexicon to be given permission to publish, on their web site, all our public domain material.

Following receipt of the request from Mr. Robinson-Grindey of the Penal Lexicon, we looked into the matter and found that Cabinet Office guidance on Crown copyright advised that, except where delegated authority existed, all requests received by departments for permission to reproduce official material must be referred to the Copyright Unit, HMSO. The Copyright Unit was contacted and confirmed that the reproduction of Crown copyright material, including in electronic form, had to be licensed. They offered to take the licensing process forward direct with Mr. Robinson-Grindey and a copy of the correspondence received was forwarded to them for this purpose.

I hope this information is helpful.