Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Tuesday, 28 October 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 5 November 2003. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Wednesday, 5 November 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of overcrowding on the ability of an individual to participate in re-offending reduction courses.

Answer: Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of overcrowding on the ability of an individual to participate in reoffending reduction courses. [135493] Paul Goggins: The Prison Service keeps the impact of population pressures under review. The main threat to offending behaviour programmes stems from prisoners being transferred to another prison before completing a programme, in order to alleviate population pressures. So far this has been largely avoided. Only 1.5 per cent. of prisoners who started a cognitive skills offending behaviour programme in 2002-03 failed to complete the programme as a result of transfer (which may have been due to overcrowding or for other reasons). This is similar to the previous three years and compares with 4.8 per cent. in 1996-97.

Secondary information