TNAG-1525-FCO40-2089-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1986 — Page 94

197

Written Answers

Year

Suicide

(но pas)

19 MARCH 1986

Non-fatal self injury with apparent

нии газн

alintent

250

1979

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY!

271

1980

1981

16 APR 1986

214

243

1982

1983

1984

DESK OFFICER INDEX

-421

212

+23

390

PA

21

1985

* Not yet available

*

Including in each year one prisoner who died in an outside hospital as a result of a suicide attempt before his reception into prison custody. Inquest verdicts on 16 prisoners who died in custody during 1985 are still awaitedd; some of these are likely to be verdicts of suicide.

Magistrates Courts (Waiting Times)

Mrs. Renée Short asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the national information collection system described in circular HOC 67/1984 LCDTC (84)I can now indicate waiting times for cases to be heard in magistrates courts; and when he expects delays, broken down by types of offence, to be published.

Mr. Mellor: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to her question on 17 February, at column 46.

Soviet Sailors

Mr. Leigh asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what constraints are imposed by his Department on the ability of Soviet sailors to travel freely in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Waddington: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry) on 20 January, at columns 7-8.

Vietnamese Refugees

Mr. Best asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Ynys Môn of 7 March, Official Report, column 30, if he will relax the criteria for admission to the United Kingdom of relatives of Vietnamese refugees settled here.

Mr. Waddington: In its response to the Home Affairs Committee's report on refugees the Government accepted the Committee's recommendation that the family reunion criteria should be relaxed in respect of a number of Vietnamese in camps in countries of temporary asylum. The Committee did not recommend, nor do the Government think it justified to propose, any more general relaxation of the normal criteria.

Mr. Best asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what evidence he decided to change the criteria for the admission to the United Kingdom of relatives of Vietnamese refugees settled here.

Mr. Waddington: It was decided to revert to the criteria applied to the relatives of all other refugees, with effect from May 1981 in the light of, among other factors, the United Kingdom's participation in the orderly departure programme from Vietnam, our wide-ranging commitments to refugees of many other nationalities, and to the admission of the spouses and minor children of others accepted for settlement in this country.

99

Mr

Written Answers

Prison Statistics

а

198

Mr. Janner asked the Secretary of State før the Home Department what was the total expenditure on housing and construction costs on (a) Ashwell, (b) Her Majesty's prison, Welford road, (c) Her Majesty's prison, Gartree, (d) Glen Parva youth custody centre and (e) Stokenhall in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and how many inmates there are at each institution.

Mr. Mellor: The following table shows expenditure by the Home Office on housing and new capital construction at the existing establishments mentioned during the period 1 March 1985 to 28 February 1986, and the number of inmates at each establishment on 7 March 1986:

HM Prison Ashwell HM Prison Leicester

HM Prison Gartree HM Youth Custody and

Remand Centre Glen Parva

Housing

Construction

Inmate population

£

£

1,397

1,125,633

365

7,403

15,767

424

4,787

59,762

306

Nil

12,262

729

HM prison Stocken, which opened in July 1985, is a new establishment, constructed by the Property Services Agency at an estimated cost of £12,751,000 for the prison and £2,510,000 for the associated staff housing. Expenditure incurred by the Property Services Agency and the Home Office during the period 1 February 1985 to 31 January 1986, the last 12-month period for which figures are available, totalled £861,379 on prison construction and £1,312,000 on housing. On 7 March 1986 Stocken's inmate population was 279.

Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Mr. Home Robertson asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases have been brought to court under section 7 (2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933; and how many orders have been made under that subsection in each of the last 10 years.

Mr. Mellor: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member from Brent, South (Mr. Pavitt) on 13 March, at columns 534-35.

Civil Defence

Mr. Peter Rees asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is satisfied with the state of civil defence preparations in east Kent, in view of Dover's strategic position.

Mr. Giles Shaw: Yes. The county council has made excellent progress in implementing the 1983 regulations, and Dover has appointed its own part-time emergency planning officer.

Indictable Offences (Reading)

Sir Gerald Vaughan asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many indictable offences were recorded in Reading in 1978 and in the latest year for which figures are available, respectively.

Mr. Mellor: The information collected centrally relates to police force areas and is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (tables 2.4 and

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