asked Her Majesty's Government:How many applications were made to enter the United Kingdom or to remain here as a refugee in 1981 and 1982 respectively; in each case how many of those persons were recognised as refugees; how many were granted asylum without refugee status; how many were granted exceptional leave to remain; how many were refused, and of those how many left the United Kingdom voluntarily and were deported respectively; and how many are still under consideration.

The available figures are:

	1981	1982
Applications made	2,904	4,167
Recognised as refugees	1,359	1,755
Granted asylum	278	613
Refused	782	1,217
Under consideration at 31.12.82		2,064

I regret that figures are not available of those granted exceptional leave to remain after rejection of an asylum claim, nor of subsequent departures from the United Kingdom.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether the prison authorities at Albany Prison were given a list of grievances by the prisoners who staged a rooftop demonstration there; whether any assurances were sought, or given, that this list would be made available to Mr. Nick Davies of the

The prisoners who had taken part in the rooftop demonstration at HM Prison Albany on 20th-25th May passed to the Governor a list of their views on the prison system. No assurance was given that this list would be passed to Mr. Davies or to anybody else and we have no record that we were asked to do so. It would not be appropriate to publish such a list or to place a copy in the Library of the House but, in the circumstances, we would wish to make it clear that it did not include any specific individualised complaints.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

(i) What further changes are proposed in the rules governing correspondence to and from prisoners following the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the Silver case.

(ii) What steps are to be taken to provide prisoners with an effective domestic remedy for breaches of their rights.

(iii) Whether the changes in the standing order applying to prisoners' correspondence in England and Wales are to be extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(iv) When the part of Rule 34(8) dealing with correspondence is to be repealed.

(v) How many further applications to the ECHR concerning censorship of mail are outstanding and how many of these applications concern matters after December 1981.

(i) Execution of the judgment will be supervised by the Committee of Ministers, which has yet to consider the matter. The Government propose to invite the committee to conclude that the changes already incorporated in the revised Standing Order 5 are sufficient to satisfy the terms of the court's judgment in the case of Silver and Others v. UK.

(ii) The court found that insofar as Standing Order 5 is compatible with our obligations under the convention an effective remedy for breaches of it is available in the form of petition to the Secretary of State and access to the courts.

(iii) The Secretary of State for Scotland has authorised amendments to the Prison (Scotland) Standing Orders which take account of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Silver case. These will take effect on 1st August 1983. Similar amendments to the Northern Ireland regulations are in the course of preparation.

(iv) The necessary amendment to Prison Rules 34(8) was effected by the Prison (Amendment) Rules 1983, which came into force on 24th May 1983.

(v)Thirty applications relating wholly or partly to the control of correspondence in the United Kingdom are outstanding; none concerns events after December 1981.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What further changes are proposed in the rules dealing with prisoners' correspondence in the light of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights against the United Kingdom in the case of

We have at present no further plans for change.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will give the number of sentenced prisoners in Prison Department establishments in England and Wales on 30th April, by type of sentence and country of birth, in a form similar to the reply they gave on this matter on 21st June 1982.

The information available is given in the following table:

SENTENCED PRISONERS(1) IN PRISON DEPARTMENT ESTABLISHMENTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES ON 30TH APRIL 1983: BY TYPE OF SENTENCE AND COUNTRY OF BIRTH
	Country of birth
Sentence length and type	U.K.	Commonwealth	Other(2)	Not recorded	Total
Imprisonment:
Up to and including 1 year	8,700	400	400	800	10,400
Over 1 year and up to and including 2 years	5,800	400	200	300	6,700
Over 2 years and up to and including 5 years	6,500	500	400	300	7,700
Over 5 years and including life	3,500	300	400	100	4,300
Borstal training	4,600	100	100	300	5,100
Detention centre	1,900	—	—	100	2,100
Total	31,000	1,800	1,500	2,000	36,200

(

asked Her Majesty's Government:What were the total payments made to the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police District and to other police authorities in respect of prisoners held overnight in police custody during the financial year 1982–83.

Payments to the Metropolitan Police for keeping prisoners in police custody during the year ending 31st March 1983 totalled approximately £2·7 million. I regret that details of payments to other police forces for this purpose are not readily available.

asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the total number of prisoners held overnight in police custody since 1st April 1983 because of overcrowding in the prison system.

The number of prisoners recorded as held overnight in police custody in London and the South East between 1st April and 4th July 1983 are as follows:

April		May		June		July
1–4	285	29–2	367	1	386	1–3	303
5	265	3	374	2	373	4	303
6	261	4	374	3–5	408
7	220	5	357	6	432
8–10	251	6–8	390	7	428
11	273	9	412	8	428
12	274	10	406	9	434
13	273	11	402	10–12	452
14	260	12	383	13	472
15–17	274	13–15	394	14	476
18	288	16	378	15	464
19	298	17	364	16	466
20	272	18	356	17–19	418
21	288	19	355	20	408
22–24	281	20–22	394	21	400
25	307	23	423	22	380
26	319	24	432	23	340
27	299	25	437	24–26	335
28	296	26–30	401	27	318
		31	384	28	332
				29	326
				30	303

asked Her Majesty's Government:What steps they propose to take with regard to Lord Scarman's recommendations concerning lay visitors to police stations.

The Government welcomed the recommendation of the noble Lord, Lord Scarman, that there should be random checks by independent persons on the detention of suspects at police stations as a constructive and positive suggestion for bringing the police and the community closer together, and set in hand consultations with the local authority associations and police representative bodies. These consultations revealed broad agreement about both the benefits which lay visiting schemes might confer and the practical basis on which they could operate. The police made it clear that they would be willing to co-operate in arrangements which, while not hampering their work, might help to dispel suspicions about their treatment of suspects held in their custody.Agreement has now been reached with the Association of County Councils, the Association of Metropolitan Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers that pilot schemes should be established in six police force areas; and with their agreement and co-operation the Home Office is issuing guidelines for the establishment and conduct of lay visiting arrangements. The police forces in whose areas lay visiting has either already begun or will be introduced are Greater Manchester, West Midlands, South Yorkshire, Humberside, Cheshire and Leicestershire. I am placing a copy of the guidelines in the Library.In addition, my right honourable and learned friend has, after local consultation, authorised the establishment, also on a pilot basis, of a lay visiting scheme in L District of the Metropolitan Police force. I am placing a copy of the scheme in the Library. It will be brought into effect as soon as my right honourable and learned friend has appointed a panel of lay visitors, and he will be considering the names of persons suggested by the Community/Policy Consultative Group for Lambeth and others. He also proposes, with the full support of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, to establish similar pilot schemes in other districts of the force. The Home Secretary will of course keep the progress of these arrangements under review, and will consider their possible development or modification accordingly.

asked Her Majesty's Government:How those tasks previously carried out by the Central Policy Review Staff will be discharged.

The principal purpose for which the Central Policy Review Staff was set up in 1971 was to provide policy analysis and collective advice to Ministers. Since then, however, departments have established or expanded their own policy units for long-term planning and the Cabinet Office Secretariat's role in preparing issues for collective Ministerial discussion has grown considerably. A policy unit has also been established in the Prime Minister's office, and the role of special advisers as a source of general advice to Ministers has been developed.When the CPRS disbands at the end of July, the Chief Scientist, CPRS, will continue to advise the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office on scientific and technological matters, with the title Chief Scientific Adviser, Cabinet Office.

asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will name the eight facilities or bases said by Lord Belstead to have been handed back by the United States Government (

The facilities to which my noble friend referred were Cushendall, Slieveanorra, Dungiven, Browncarrick Hill, Sergeantlaw, Kirk O'Shotts, East Lamond and Craigowl Hill.