To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the dates of publication for each board of visitors annual report for 1996 and (a) each privately managed prison and (b) each publicly managed prison; and if he will make a statement. [18086]
Each Board of Visitors has a statutory duty under Prison Rule 97 to report annually to the Home Secretary on the state of the prison and its administration and include advice and suggestions as they consider appropriate.Boards of Visitors Annual Reports are not published documents. They are made to the Secretary of State who permits the Board to publish their Annual Report, if they wish, subject to allowing a period of notice to elapse before publication and to removal of any material which is confidential.Fifty Boards have published their 1996 Annual Reports. The Boards and the publication dates of their Reports are as follows:
| Board | Publication date |
| Privately managed prisons | |
| Blakenhurst | December 1996 |
| Wolds | April 1997 |
| Publicly managed prisons | |
| Aldington | January 1997 |
| Askham Grange | February 1997 |
| Bedford | May 1997 |
| Belmarsh | February 1997 |
| Blantyre House | February 1997 |
| Blundeston | April 1997 |
| Bristol | February 1997 |
| Brixton | May 1997 |
| Bullwood Hall | January 1997 |
| Channings Wood | February 1997 |
| Chelmsford | January 1997 |
Board
| Publication date
|
| Dartmoor | January 1997 |
| Deerbolt | January 1997 |
| Downview | March 1997 |
| Drake Hall | January 1997 |
| Erlestoke | January 1997 |
| Exeter | January 1997 |
| Feltham | March 1997 |
| Ford | February 1997 |
| Full Sutton | January 1997 |
| Guys Marsh | February 1997 |
| Haslar | January 1997 |
| High Down | February 1997 |
| Highpoint | August 1997 |
| Hollesley Bay | May 1997 |
| Holloway | April 1997 |
| Hull | January 1997 |
| Huntercombe | May 1997 |
| Kingston | April 1997 |
| Kirkham | January 1997 |
| Lancaster Farms | February 1997 |
| The Mount | April 1997 |
| Northallerton | January 1997 |
| Norwich | April 1997 |
| Nottingham | April 1997 |
| Pentonville | April 1997 |
| Preston | January 1997 |
| Send | January 1997 |
| Swaleside | March 1997 |
| Swansea | May 1997 |
| The Verne | April 1997 |
| Wandsworth | April 1997 |
| Wayland | August 1997 |
| Wetherby | May 1997 |
| Whatton | August 1997 |
| Whitemoor | February 1997 |
| Winchester | March 1997 |