asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he is making at the Wetherby youth custody centre; over what period; and with what transitional arrangements.

As my noble Friend has made clear in a letter to my hon. Friend, we have decided that Wetherby should function as a closed youth custody centre when the new open youth custody centre at Thorn Cross is commissioned shortly. A perimeter fence is currently under construction at Wetherby. Redevelopment is planned to begin about the middle of 1987 and will take some years. Wetherby will now remain in continuous use, but during the priod of redevelopment its population will be reduced to approximately 120.