asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in closed prisons are in A and B categories of security risk; and what proportion are in the dispersal prison.

At 30th September 1976, the latest date for which information is readily available, there were 234 Category A and 7,359 Category B prisoners in closed prisons. At the same date dispersal prisons held 81 per cent, of all Category A prisoners and 26 per cent, of all Category B prisoners.