asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of males and females, respectively, who have been released on parole from Her Majesty's prisons during each of the past four years; how many have been recommitted to prison; and if he will make a statement on what action he intends to take to improve the parole system.

Figures for 1975 are not yet available. In the previous three years the number of prisoners serving determinate sentences who were granted parole was as follows:

	Males	Females
1972	2,838	77
1973	3,250	78
1974	3,426	76

It is not possible without disproportionate expense and time to establish how many have subsequently been recommitted to prison but figures limited to the periods of currency of the licences show that up to 11th February 1976 the licences of 795 of these men and 21 of the women have been revoked, some because new custodial sentences have been imposed and the rest for other breaches of licence conditions. As regards improvement of the parole system, I refer to the answers I gave on 4th August and 18th December 1975 to Questions by my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, South (Mr. Perry).—[Vol. 897, c. 25–27; Vol. 902, 701.]