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Mr. Maclean [holding answer 19 December 1994]: Provision for costs of this kind is made in the estimates for the Metropolitan police and the cost falls on the Metropolitan police fund.

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Column 1220

Prison Service Initiatives

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish a list of initiatives currently being undertaken by the Prison Service.

Mr. Michael Forsyth [holding answer 19 December 1994]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. George Howarth, dated 20 December 1994:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the initiatives currently being undertaken by the Prison Service.

The Service's current programme of work is set out in our Corporate Plan for 1994 97 and Business Plan for 1994 95, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Young People (Detention)

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young persons were sentenced to a period of detention under section 53 of the Children Act 1933 for each year since 1974;

Mr. Maclean [holding answer 19 December 1994]: The information is given in the table.

Persons sentenced under Section 53 of the Children and Young            

Persons Act 1933, 1974-1993                                             

England and Wales                                                       

Year              |Section 53 (1)   |Section 53 (2)                     

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1974              |7                |20                                 

1975              |6                |14                                 

1976              |7                |43                                 

1977              |10               |45                                 

1978              |9                |56                                 

1979              |26               |53                                 

1980              |20               |65                                 

1981              |15               |73                                 

1982              |30               |84                                 

1983              |16               |69                                 

1984              |22               |99                                 

1985              |18               |154                                

1986              |16               |156                                

1987              |19               |154                                

1988              |22               |177                                

1989<1>           |15               |114                                

1990<1>           |10               |125                                

1991              |12               |102                                

1992<2>           |11               |93                                 

1993<2>           |24               |315                                

<1> Comparisons with prison receptions suggest there may have been      

under-recordings during 1989 and 1990, although this is less likely in  

1990.                                                                   

<2> Under the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the arrangements for imposing  

longer sentences under section 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons  

Act 1933 also applied to 17-year-olds from 1October 1992.               

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