§ Mr. StinchcombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the compliance of the practice of placing women under the age of 18 years in adult jails with the UK's responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. [65009]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe United Kingdom has entered a reservation which allows the right not to apply Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child where mixing of children and adults in prison is deemed to be mutually beneficial, to allow for closeness to home or regime provision.
§ Mr. StinchcombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women aged 15, 16 and 17 years are currently imprisoned in adult women's prisons. [65006]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe currently available information relates to the population on the last day of November 1998 and is given in the table. Unsentenced 17-year-olds are held in prison accommodation. Those sentenced to detention in a Young Offender Institution are held in designated young offender accommodation within adult prisons.
Population of 15, 16 and 17-year-old females in adult prisons on 30 November 19981 Age Number 15 6 16 24 17 64 1Provisional figures