Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:28 am on 13 July 1984.
My hon. Friend has a deep and long-established interest in and knowledge of these matters. He represents a constituency that contains one of our more important prisons, and he has made an important point.
The Minister asked me about evidence. Apart from the evidence submitted by the Prison Officers Association, there is evidence in numerous reports not only from the boards of visitors mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Mr. Cox) but in the annual reports on the work of the prison department. The Minister should not have to ask me for evidence.