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Early Removal of Fixed-Term Prisoners (Amendment of Eligibility Period) Order 2008

I am grateful, my Lords; I was not certain when I would be allowed to come in. I am equally surprised at the speed at which this is being done, not least because of the timing of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. Nevertheless it must have some benefits in that at least those who remain in the prisons will have slightly less crowding to cope with. From that viewpoint I suppose that I, too, must welcome what is happening. Apart from endorsing the point about legal aid—it is crucial that they have access to legal aid—I wonder how many of the people we are talking about are women, because a considerable proportion of the prison population are foreigners. I hope that it is not too many, but it would be useful to have those figures.