Previous Section Back to Table of Contents Lords Hansard Home Page


28 Nov 1995 : Column WA31

Written Answers

Tuesday, 28th November 1995.

Prison Building Costs

Baroness David asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is the average capital cost of a prison place in the current prison building programme.

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch): Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Baroness David from the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 28 November 1995:

Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the average capital cost of a prison place in the current prison building programme.

Publicly financed new prisons typically cost about £100,000 per prisoner place, although the most recent--Buckley Hall--cost £57,000 per place because of the use of innovative building techniques. New houseblocks in existing prisons cost approximately £40,000 per place. All further planned new prisons are due to be built and managed using private finance. The negotiations for these contracts are continuing and for this reason I am unable to disclose the likely costs. When the contracts have been signed, the fees paid by the Prison Service per prisoner will be published.

Prisoner Numbers by Length of Sentence

Baroness David asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is the average daily number of prisoners serving (a) sentences of under twelve months;

    (b) sentences of twelve months or more but under four years; and (c) sentences of four years or more respectively.

Baroness Blatch: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Baroness David from the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, Mr. Richard Tilt, dated 28 November 1995:

Lady Blatch has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking what is the average daily number of prisoners serving (a) sentences of under twelve months; (b) sentences of twelve months or more but under four years; and (c) sentences of four years or more respectively.

The latest available information is for 30 September 1995 and is given in the attached table.

28 Nov 1995 : Column WA32

Population under sentence(1) in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales on 30 September 1995 by length of sentence

Length of sentenceNumber
Less than 12 months6,758
12 months to less than 4 years15,130
4 years and over17,241
Total39,129

(1) Excluding fine defaulters.


Prisoners Sentenced for Burglary and Drugs Offences

Baroness David asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How many burglars and drug dealers respectively aged 18 or over with two or more previous convictions were sentenced in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what proportion received non-custodial sentences.

Baroness Blatch: The available information is published in Chapter 9 of Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1994 (Cm 3010), a copy of which is in the Library. Table 9.1 gives the proportion of those sentenced for burglary and drugs offences in 1993 who had been convicted on two or more previous occasions. Tables 9.3 and 9.4 give the proportion by age and gender given custodial sentences and non-custodial sentences according to the number of previous conviction occasions.

Male Farmers in Wales: Deaths from Injury and Poisoning

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How many sudden deaths in male farmers under the age of 45 have been reported for each Coroner's District in Wales since 1985.

Baroness Blatch: The information requested in relation to coroner's districts is not held centrally.

I understand from the Office of Population Census and Surveys that the number of deaths of farmers from injury and poisoning reported to registrars of deaths are as given in the attached table. Data for 1993-95 are not yet available.

Deaths from external causes of injury and poisoning Male farmers in Wales, 1985-1992, by county district

Districts19851986198719881989199019911992
Wrexham Maelor10131001
Delyn00211101
Carmarthen40121022
Glyndwr01221010
Ceredigion11321320
Colwyn00011100
Dinefwr11110101
Llanelli01001101
Preseli Pembrokeshire42401102
Newport00100010
Monmouth12241102
Norfaen01100000
Aberconwy31000000
Dwyfor01101111
Meirionnydd31211100
Arfon00200111
Ynys Mon--Isle of Anglesey10020210
Rhuddlan00010000
Brecknock10212020
South Pembrokeshire00010000
Montgomeryshire23121511
Cynon Valley00010000
Radnorshire20110210
Taff-Ely00010000
Cardiff10000000
Swansea00010011
Neath10000000
Alyn and Deeside00001100
Lffw Valley00002000
Vale of Glamorgan00000100

28 Nov 1995 : Column WA33

Murder: Defence of Provocation

Lord Braine of Wheatley asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Whether, in view of the recent acquittal of Emma Humphries, they will reconsider their decision not to support legislation to provide a defence of provocation for those accused of murder.

Baroness Blatch: The existing law, which already provides a defence of provocation to a charge of murder, responds with flexibility to the particular circumstances of domestic violence victims. The recent judgment of the Court of Appeal, which quashed Emma Humphries' conviction for murder and substituted a conviction for manslaughter, does not suggest that the law on provocation requires amendment. We have no current plans to change the law in this area.

Lord Braine of Wheatley asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What discussions they have held within the last year with Justice for Women concerning the case of Emma Humphries and the question of whether there is a need to change the law to provide a defence of provocation for those accused of murder.

Baroness Blatch: We have not had any discussions on these matters with Justice for Women in the last year.

Service Housing: Management

The Earl of Arran asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What further steps they intend to take to improve the quality and management of service housing.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe): Earlier this year the Government created a specialist housing division within MoD, the Defence Housing Executive, to undertake the management and maintenance of the Married Quarters

28 Nov 1995 : Column WA34

Estate on behalf of all three Services. That has provided the Estate with a unified, professional housing management organisation which we intend should offer a more responsive and efficient housing service to our personnel and their families. There is a great deal to be done in this area, and the Executive has some challenging targets to meet. Over 90 per cent. of its budget is already spent on buying maintenance and other services from the private sector. But further improvements in cost-effectiveness are both possible and necessary.

The DHE will continue in its current form, as a unit within MoD, for a guaranteed period of at least three years. That will enable it to focus on the management improvements we expect it to deliver. I pay tribute to the DHE and its Chief Executive for the progress already made.

Beyond that, the Government have been considering, with financial and other advisers, possibilities for transferring ownership of the Married Quarters Estate to the private sector. We are satisfied that we should take this forward.

The main points of our proposal are that MoD should transfer the ownership of the Married Quarters Estate in England and Wales to the private sector on a series of very long leases, renting back the accommodation which is needed to meet Service housing needs. To that end, we would enter into detailed agreements governing the maximum and minimum levels of MoD occupancy, allowing sufficient flexibility to cater for inevitable uncertainties about our long-term accommodation needs. Several thousand surplus properties would be transferred on a freehold basis immediately--and future surpluses would similarly be returned to the new landlord. Special arrangements would allow MoD to share in the enhanced value where the subsequent disposal of such properties was particularly successful. MoD would retain, through the Defence Housing Executive, responsibility for maintenance and the allocation of housing. It is intended to include the bulk of the Official Service Residences in the sale, where it is possible and sensible to do so.

Our fundamental requirement is to be able to provide our Services with the housing that they need and deserve. That requirement flows from operational circumstances which demand mobility of Service families, and from the imperative to deal fairly with our personnel and their families, upon whose commitment, dedication and forbearance we so heavily rely.

Meeting that requirement, however, is not dependent upon retaining ownership of the Married Quarters Estate. Indeed, it is inappropriate for Government to own a large estate of this kind if it can avoid doing so. As far as possible we want to place the business of owning Married Quarters, and disposing of them when they are no longer required, in the private sector, where significant efficiencies can be expected. Accordingly, we have decided to take forward the transfer of the Married Quarters Estate to the private sector.

28 Nov 1995 : Column WA35

We are confident that this proposition will meet the Services' housing needs, in a manner consistent with operational and security requirements, and will safeguard the welfare and interests of our personnel and their families. We will also be able, if such a transfer is successfully achieved, to fund additional investment in upgrading the housing stock where necessary. Much of the Married Quarters Estate is in good condition. But there are areas where improvements are overdue and this sale offers the opportunity to put this right more quickly. It also offers the prospect of real progress in dealing with the current empty homes problem. At present some 20 per cent. of our housing stock is unoccupied; even allowing for the unique requirements of Service housing, and the particular difficulties associated with the changes and redeployments of recent years, that is unsatisfactory. By involving the dynamism and expertise of the private sector in dealing with surplus properties, we believe we can help to put that right and improve the supply of housing to the public.

We therefore intend to test the market. If a good price is available, the Government will transfer the stock. Such a transfer would depend upon reaching agreement on terms which satisfy the interests of the Services and on a price which properly reflects the public interest.

The Government will in due course publish a Preliminary Information Memorandum, which will set out the proposals in greater detail, and invite interested parties to prequalify for the opportunity to tender for the Estate.


Next Section Back to Table of Contents Lords Hansard Home Page