Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 23552, how many times police cells were used to hold prisoners overnight who were aged (a) 15 to 17, (b) 18 to 20 and (c) 21 and over in each month in 2014 and 2015.

We will always have enough prison places for those sent to us by the courts and will do so in a way that gives taxpayers the best possible value for money.

There are no plans to re-activate police cells under Operation Safeguard. No police cells have been used under Operation Safeguard since October 2008. This means the number of prisoners held temporarily overnight in police cells has fallen from over 50,000 in 2008.

Tables 1 and 2 show the number of prisoners, by the requested age groups, who were temporarily held overnight in police cells in England and Wales each month in 2014 and 2015. No prisoners aged 15 to 17 were held overnight in police cells in 2014 and 2015.

Table 1: 18 year olds and above during 2014

Table 2: 18 year olds and above during 2015