The Home Secretary has made no attempt to explain how or by what figure his proposal would reduce the number of prisoners held on remand - a major element in the Crisis of Prison Overcrowding.

Will the Minister confirm that the present Crisis of Prison Overcrowding in the north-west has led to the renewed use of police cells?

At the same time, as my noble friend Lord Hurd strictured yesterday, in the Queen's Speech there was hardly a reference to the Crisis of Prison Overcrowding, let alone to the priority of its redress.

I am quite clear what I am trying to do, which is to prevent the Crisis in Prison Overcrowding from getting worse than it already is.

My Lords, does the Minister accept that we will never build our way out of this Crisis of Prison Overcrowding and that the only real answer must lie with more a more selective use of custody by judges?

Instead, we have lurched from the scandal of early release to the fiasco of C-NOMIS, and from the daily Crisis of Prison Overcrowding to the loss of prison officers' names and addresses.