HL Deb 11 June 1998 vol 590 c102WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are studying the Report from the National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NACRO) Too Many Prisoners? of April 1998; whether they will respond direct to NACRO; and when they expect to publish new proposals for reducing the use of imprisonment as a sentence and for other improvements in the criminal justice system. [HL2101]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has already written to the Chief Executive of NACRO on 4 June in response to receiving a copy of the reportToo Many Prisoners?. As he made clear in his response, some of the proposals in the report are similar to measures—such as sentencing guidelines, home detention curfew and the drug treatment and testing order—which are already being taken forward by the Government in the Crime and Disorder Bill [H.L.].

There is a great deal of interest in this whole area at present, not least because of the current inquiry into the alternatives to prison sentences being conducted by a Select Committee in another place. The Government await the report of the Select Committee with interest and will consider whatever proposals it may make for reducing the use of imprisonment. We will, of course, publish a response to the Select Committee's report in the normal way.