asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the national average number of those held on remand in (a) England and Wales and (b) Liverpool in 1981; and if he will make a statement.

The total average daily population of untried and convicted unsentenced prisoners in England and Wales in 1981 was 6,905; the corresponding figure for Liverpool prison was 7. Such prisoners are not normally held at Liverpool prison at present, but we are considering the feasibility of establishing a remand function there to enable the prison to assume responsibility for the majority of men remanded by courts on Merseyside.