To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which years he expects the prison population to exceed the certified normal accommodation.

On the basis of projections of the prison population published on 30 March—Home Office Statistical Bulletin 6/93—the projected population would not exceed certified normal accommodation before the end of the decade. It is, however, not yet possible to make any conclusive assessment of the impact of changes to the Criminal Justice Bill [Lords] proposed by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary.