HL Deb 15 October 2001 vol 627 cc77-8WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many hours per week of (a) education and training and (b) work were carried out by prisoners in Northern Ireland in the most recent years; by how much this will be increased in 2001–02; whether the percentage of sentence plans is being improved; and, if so, by how much and over what period. [HL778]

Lord Falconer of Thoroton

The prisoner population in Northern Ireland received an average of 906 hours education and 2,668 hours work (vocational training and industry workshops) per week in the 2000–01 financial year.

For the year ended March 2001 an average of 65.4 per cent of the eligible prisoner population were following a sentence plan. Up to the end of September 2001 an average of 77.6 per cent of the eligible prisoner population were following a sentence plan.