asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will allow prisoners to earn larger sums of money while in custody.

We are anxious to improve the opportunities for prisoners to earn higher rates, but at the same time we have to consider the cost of this against other demands on the limited resources available.

Does the Minister agree that it would help prisoners to adapt to the outside world if they had the incentive to earn an adequate amount of money and could leave with the money that they had earned rather than the inadequate social security grant that they receive at present? Will she review particularly the arrangements for those coming towards the end of their prison sentences? May I also ask whether the review will consider the vexed question of the national insurance stamp?

I agree that the opportunity to earn more money through increased output, effort and skill is an essential factor in the development of prison employment as an effective form of penal treatment. A review of our policy in this respect, which will cover the point made by the hon. Gentleman, is being carried out and it is intended that it should be completed in the near future.

Long-term prisoners, while in prison, often acquire new skills and standards of craftsmanship which would help them enormously when they come out. Is this information made available to would-be employers? Are they made aware of the standards that long-term prisoners acquire to enable them to fit into normal life and make a worthwhile contribution?

That information is certainly available. Many prisoners, while in prison, obtain certificates and recognised qualifications in various spheres.

Regardless of whatever provision the Minister may think appropriate to help prisoners to earn more money, may I ask for an assurance that that will not extend to allowing them to profit from the sale of memoirs, recollections, biographies and other scripted items relating to the misdeeds that brought them into prison in the first place?

I am afraid that nothing can be done to prevent an exprisoner writing what he likes after he has left prison.