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Woodhill Prison
7. Mr. Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the future of Woodhill prison. [10554]
Miss Widdecombe: There are no plans to change the role of Woodhill as a local prison, or its capacity. It will also continue to take category A prisoners, and a programme of work is under way to provide improved physical and procedural security to meet the relevant recommendations of Sir John Woodcock and General Sir John Learmont.
Woodhill will continue to take a small number of disruptive prisoners, and they will be housed in a new close supervision unit. In addition, the same building will include a small unit for holding female prisoners who need to be kept in conditions of high security.
Mr. Butler:
May I begin by saying what a pleasure it will be to address my hon. Friend as my right hon. Friend? I offer my congratulations on behalf of Conservative Members.
My hon. Friend will be aware that there has been great concern in my constituency and elsewhere near Woodhill about constant reports that there is to be upgrading and
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Miss Widdecombe:
I think that I can reassure my hon. Friend. No decision has been made about the location of any particular prisoner in connection with Woodhill. As for the stories of luxury, they are similar to the scaremongering stories that we often hear from the Labour party. In fact, there is only the most basic provision in Woodhill, in keeping with my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary's policy that prison should be decent but austere. There will be no in-cell television or radio, normal volumetric control will apply and furniture and equipment will be standard prison issue, including metal-frame beds. Association areas will have standard furnishings and equipment.
8. Mr. Sweeney:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the overall levels of recorded crime for the last three years for which figures are available. [10555]
Mr. Howard:
Recorded crime levels in the last 12 months to June 1996, the latest period for which figures are available, were 10 per cent. lower than three years before that. That is a fall of more than half a million offences--the biggest continuous fall over three years since records were first kept in 1857.
Mr. Sweeney:
Will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that the figures that he has given compare favourably with those for any country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development? Will he join me in congratulating the Vale of Glamorgan police, who have achieved a substantial reduction in the rate of recorded crime for the last two years? Will he also accept the plaudits of the people of the Vale of Glamorgan for the contribution made by the additional police whom he has provided? Tougher penalties for criminals have helped to produce that success.
Mr. Howard:
In the last two years for which figures are available, the fall in recorded crime in England and Wales was the highest recorded in a survey of 18 OECD countries. Across the country, the police deserve congratulation on that success. I am delighted to be able to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the police in the Vale of Glamorgan on their success.
Mr. Sheerman:
The Home Secretary must know that the public are suffering from reporting fatigue. They are fed up of reporting burglaries and car break-ins. Real crime is still rising, and rising fast. Is not it time that he spoke to the great British public, who would tell him that time and again?
Mr. Howard:
The odd thing is that when the crime figures were rising, Labour never criticised them. When we introduced the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, the Leader of the Opposition, no less, asked:
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Mr. Garnier:
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the best ways to reduce crime is to introduce closed circuit television? In the borough of Oadby and Wigston, in my constituency, the predominantly Liberal Democrat council refuses to support an application by schools and the police in Leicestershire for its introduction. Following that application by the police and by Conservative-minded and anti-crime people, £95 million of Government money is to be spent introducing it, to the benefit of the population.
Mr. Howard:
I am not at all surprised by what my hon. and learned Friend said. The attitude of that Liberal Democrat-controlled council is typical of Liberal Democrats across the country. The hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) likes to pontificate, but the actions of Liberal Democrats in control of local government show that they do not care in the slightest about taking effective action to deal with crime.
Mr. Straw:
Does the Home Secretary recognise that he is no more convincing when he talks about crime figures than he was when he used to talk about unemployment figures? Why does he not own up not to figures for the past 12 months but to those for the past 18 years, during which crime has doubled? The Conservatives have achieved the worst record of any Government since the war. Internationally, they have the worst record of any industrialised country. On serious crime alone, their record since 1979 is 10 times worse than that of the United States. That is a record of abject failure.
Mr. Howard:
Unlike the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman), the hon. Gentleman seems to set great store by the figures. I hope that he accepts what the figures show for the past three years. He is not in the best position to talk about sounding convincing. Earlier this week, he gave an interview to The Independent, which was reported by no less a person than Polly Toynbee who said, roughly, that she trusted the hon. Gentleman because she did not believe a word that he was saying.
10. Mr. Hawksley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives the Prison Service is taking to control prisoners' access to drugs. [10557]
Miss Widdecombe:
Specific measures to control the supply of drugs into prisons include enhanced searching, increased use of closed circuit television and sniffer dogs. We are also assessing the results of a pilot scheme on the mandatory use of non-contact or closed visits. In addition, many establishments have taken the opportunity to develop local initiatives for controlling the supply of drugs.
Mr. Hawksley:
I had hoped that when people were sent to prison, there would be an opportunity to reduce the
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Miss Widdecombe:
It is certainly not the case that a blind eye is being turned to drugs in prisons--many initiatives and ring-fenced funding have demonstrated our commitment to combating the problem. A prisoner who was found to have taken drugs could be subject to disciplinary action, resulting in the loss of up to 42 days' remission; a prison officer who was found have brought in drugs would be subject to dismissal; and a visitor who was found to have brought in drugs would be subject to prosecution. We have a firm programme, which is working.
Mr. George Howarth:
I congratulate the hon. Lady on being made a Privy Councillor. Will she acknowledge that, over the past few months, Ministers have repeatedly given me inaccurate information on the scale and types of drugs being detected in the prison system? Does she accept that as soon as accurate information is available, it should be published so that we can make a proper assessment of what is happening in prisons and informed decisions on how to combat the growing menace of drug abuse in our prison system?
Miss Widdecombe:
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind remarks. As I met him this week specifically to discuss the issue, he will be aware that there are some doubts and questions--which are perhaps not particularly large or with a particularly vast effect--on the integrity of retests, which are given after test results have been challenged, and on the impact of that matter on the overall figures. He will be aware--as I have given him an undertaking--that the matter is being examined urgently, that the figures are being refined and that any past statements we have made that may have been based on old and questionable figures will be corrected.
"If it does not cut crime, will he accept that it has failed?"--[Official Report, 11 January 1994; Vol. 235, c. 21.]
Since it has been on the statute book, recorded crime has consistently fallen. I hope that the Labour party will now accept that that Bill and our other measures have succeeded in helping to make Britain a safer place.
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