§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions he and other Ministers in his Department have met the governor and senior management responsible for HMP Wormwood Scrubs since May 1997; and if he will make a statement. [90579]
§ Mr. George HowarthSince May 1997, my right hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West (Ms Quin), the then Minister for prisons and probation, visited Wormwood Scrubs prison at night on 13 July 1998 when she would have met the governor and staff.
468WThe current Minister for prisons and probation, my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Williams, has met the governor on two occasions on 14 April and 22 June 1999. My right hon. and noble Friend Lord Williams, has also had meetings with the area manager on six occasions since February and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has met the area manager twice. Central records of attendance at office meetings are not available prior to this year.
These meetings were in addition to the regular meetings my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and the Minister with responsibility for prisons, my right hon. and noble Friend Lord Williams and until July 1998, my right hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West, held with the Director General.
§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the actions his Department has taken in respect of each of the recommendations made by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons on Her Majesty's Prison Wormwood Scrubs in March 1997. [90970]
§ Mr. George HowarthI have arranged for a copy of the action plan drawn up in response to the Chief Inspector of Prison's recommendations, contained in his 1996 inspection report, to be placed in the Library.