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Voluntary Sector
Mr. Maxton : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people were employed by the voluntary sector in Scotland in each year since 1970.
Mr. Allan Stewart : Information is not available in the form requested.
Shipping Subsidies
Mr. Bill Walker : To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proposals he has for shipping subsidies for sea transport services in Scotland in 1992-93 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lang : Subject to parliamentary approval of the estimates, I propose to make available in 1992-93 total subsidy provision of £13.6 million, compared with £12.9 million in 1991-92. The deficit subsidy for Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. will be £6.1 million. For services to
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Orkney and Shetland, tariff rebate subsidies of up to £5.1 million will be available for P and O and £1.2 million for Orkney and Shetland Lines. Up to £1.2 million will be available for other coastal shippers serving the Western Isles.The total of subsidies available will increase support in real terms. This reflects the Government's continuing commitment to assisting the essential sea transport services to the Western and Northern Isles.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Wandsworth Prison
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much time off in lieu hours are at present owed to prison officers serving at Wandsworth prison as of 1 December.
Mrs. Rumbold : On 1 December 6,442 hours were owed to prison officers at Wandsworth.
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of prison officers serving at Wandsworth prison in 1990 ; what was the comparable figure in 1980 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Rumbold : At the end of 1990, 481 prison officer staff were employed at Wandsworth prison compared with 331 at the end of 1980.
Confiscation Orders
Mrs. Ann Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those offences following which a confiscation order may be made under the terms of section 71 and schedule 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
Mr. John Patten : Part VI of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies to all indictable offences other than drug trafficking offences, and to certain summary offences listed in schedule 4 to the Act, as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Confiscation Orders) Order 1990 (SI 1990 No. 1570).
Indictable offences are listed in appendix 3 to the Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1989, a copy of which is in the Library.
Bail Hostels
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the categories of offenders who are excluded from open bail hostels.
Mr. John Patten : The Approved Probation Hostel and Home and Bail Hostel Rules 1976 prohibit the admission to approved hostels, including bail hostels, of any person suffering from severe subnormality or psychopathic disorder. In addition, the prior consent of the Secretary of State is required before anyone can be admitted to a hostel who is outside the limits of age approved for that hostel.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the proportion of men bailed to hostels who are unemployed.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the role and purpose of bail hostels.Mr. John Patten : Approved bail hostels provide supervised accommodation in the community for defendants who have been remanded on bail. Their purpose is to reduce unnecessary remands in custody under the terms of the Bail Act 1976.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bail hostels closed in each year since 1988-89 ; and if he will give the reasons in each case.
Mr. John Patten : No bail hostels have closed since 1988-89.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will publish up-to-date statistics of re-offence by residents in bail hostels ;
(2) if he will list all the categories of offence of defendants who were accommodated in bail hostels and who were subsequently convicted of those offences in each of the past five years.
Mr. John Patten : This information is not available.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make provision of grant aid to local probation committees for building bail hostels conditional on the granting of planning permission by the appropriate authority.
Mr. John Patten : All approvals for expenditure on the provision of bail hostels are conditional on any relevant planning permission being obtained.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will institute a system for recording, in each bail hostel area, the level of crime associated with bailees, including specifically (a) all serious crime, (b) sexual offences and (c) theft and burglary.
Mr. John Patten : Crime is not recorded according to bail hostel area and there are no plans to do so. Work is in hand to analyse the significance of offending on bail, and the results will be announced as soon as is practicable.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many custodial sentences have effectively been served at bail hostels because of delays in the criminal justice system.
Mr. John Patten : Time spent on bail awaiting trial or sentence does not count towards a subsequent custodial sentence.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bail hostels are of the core and cluster type.
Mr. John Patten : On 1 December 1991, there were 15 bail hostels of the core and cluster type.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy on the siting of new bail hostels ; what guidance has been issued to local probation committees on the procedures to be followed in respect of public consultation in selecting sites ; and if he will publish the guidance.
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Mr. John Patten : The role of the Home Office in the setting up of individual bail hostels is confined to approving a proposal for funding. It is for local probation committees to decide the location of a bail hostel, obtain the appropriate planning consents and negotiate the purchase.
The Home Office requires local probation committees, when deciding on a location, to assess the reactions of local residents and elected representatives to their proposals, but no specific guidance has been issued on how this should be done.
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is (a) the amount of public expenditure and (b) the number of prison places saved per year as a result of the expansion programme for the bail hostel scheme since 1988.
Mr. John Patten : Since 1988 central Government capital expenditure of approximately £9.9 million has been provided for the bail hostel expansion programme, but not all the bed spaces funded have yet come on stream. Estimates of the number of prison places saved at the year end based on 90 per cent. occupancy of available hostel places are :
|Number
----------------------
1988-89 |32
1989-90 |161
1990-91 |383
1991-92 |662
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Home Office has for increasing the number of remand places available.
Mrs. Rumbold : The prison building programme will deliver a further 4,500 places by the end of 1992. The majority of these are local prisons or remand centres to hold remand and newly sentenced prisoners.
Custody Costs
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the additional cost of custodial sentences compared with non- custodial sentences.
Mr. John Patten : In the year 1990-91 the average annual cost of prison custody was £20,070. It was £1,070 for a probation order and £920 for a community service order. Offenders should be punished according to the seriousness of their offences. We believe that less serious offenders can be punished adequately in the community under demanding supervision which can protect the public and help to reduce reoffending.
Bail (Private Placements)
Mr. Conway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the success rate of probation committees who were allowed to place those on bail into private homes.
Mr. John Patten : The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Civilianisation
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of police officers who would be returned to operational duties if the West Yorkshire police authority adopted the best practice on civilianisation.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Of the 2,706 "key posts" in West Yorkshire police, 1,838--or 68 per cent.--have been civilianised. A number of forces have achieved rates at 80 per cent. or more. Although there is not necessarily an exact correlation between the number of posts civilianised and the number of officers thereby released for operational duties, it is reasonable to assume that if West Yorkshire were to civilianise 80 per cent. of "key posts", some 300 further officers could be released for operational duties.
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list police authorities in the order of the extent to which they have implemented the policy of civilianisation.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The following table shows the proportion of "key posts"--that is, those regarded by Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary as suitable for civilianisation--which had been civilianised by each provincial force up to the end of 1990. Comparative information is not available for the Metropolitan police.
Force |Percentage of "Key
|Posts" civilianised
------------------------------------------------------------
Cheshire |64.8
Merseyside |65.4
Greater Manchester |66.3
Northumbria |67.0
Hertfordshire |67.3
Hampshire |67.5
West Yorkshire |67.9
Gwent |68.7
City of London |69.4
South Yorkshire |69.6
Gloucestershire |69.7
Lancashire |69.8
Avon and Somerset |70.5
Northamptonshire |72.2
Staffordshire |72.2
Norfolk |72.3
North Yorkshire |72.3
Essex |72.5
Derbyshire |72.6
Bedfordshire |73.0
West Midlands |73.1
Nottinghamshire |73.3
Durham |73.4
Thames Valley |73.7
Warwickshire |74.1
Humberside |74.1
Cleveland |74.3
Sussex |75.3
South Wales |75.5
Devon and Cornwall |75.8
Dorset |75.8
Lincolnshire |76.1
Leicestershire |76.5
Suffolk |76.8
Cambridgeshire |78.6
Kent |78.8
Wiltshire |79.0
Cumbria |80.2
Dyfed Powys |81.1
West Mercia |81.6
North Wales |84.2
Surrey |86.7
Average |72.1
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Knives
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases concerning the sale and possession of knives have been brought by the Crown prosecution service in each of the last two years ; and what assessment he has made of the effect of local amnesties on the number of such prosecutions.
Mr. John Patten : Information on the number of prosecutions concerning the illegal sale and possession of knives is given in the table.
Number of prosecutions for offences of possession and sales of knives
1988 and 1989-England and Wales
Offence |Statute |1988 |1989
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having an article with a |Criminal Justice Act |150 |2,018
blade or point in a | 1988 Section 139
public place
Manufacture, importa- |Restriction of Offensive|2 |17
tion and sale of | Weapons Act 1959
certain offensive | Section 1, and
weapons | Criminal Justice Act
| 1988 Section 141
Police Manpower
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list for each police force in England and Wales the figures for (a) total population, (b) rural population and (c) urban population used by the recent review of police manpower needs ;
(2) if he will give the specific figure of the deprivation index which was calculated (a) for the South Wales police area, (b) for other police authority areas in Wales and (c) for police authority areas in England as part of his Department's recent review of police manpower ;
(3) if he will list the specific facts on degree of overcrowding which were taken into account (a) in the South Wales police area as a whole and (b) in each district within the South Wales police area in the course of the recent review of police manpower needs ; (4) if he will list the specific cities, towns, districts and localities in the South Wales police area which have been regarded as urban in calculating the number of officers needed by the South Wales constabulary as part of his Department's recent review of police manpower ;
(5) if he will list the specific towns, districts, villages and localities in the South Wales police area which have been regarded as rural in calculating the number of officers needed by the South Wales constabulary as part of his Department's recent review of police manpower.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I will write to the hon. Member.
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the results of the 1986 inter-censual survey (a) in South Glamorgan and (b) other areas were used to supplement the results of the 1981 census in determining the factors considered in calculating the number of officers needed by the South Wales constabulary as part of his Department's recent review of police manpower.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys that there were no national inter-censual surveys in 1986.
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Foreign Lottery Tickets
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes the Government are considering to the policy of prohibiting the importation, promotion and sale of foreign lottery tickets, in connection with the introduction of the single market.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We have no plans at present to amend the policy or the law in relation to the importation, promotion and sale of foreign lottery material.
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to prevent the illegal importation of foreign lottery tickets into Britain.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Where appropriate, with the Gaming Board for Great Britain, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a number of measures are taken to prevent or curtail the promotion of foreign lotteries in the United Kingdom. Representations are, if necessary, made to the authorities in the country concerned. Of European Community countries, such representations have been made to the Federal Republic of Germany. Representations have also been made to the authorities in Austria and Vanuatu, as a result of which those countries' national lotteries have undertaken to cease their promotional activities in this country, and to the authorities in British Columbia, Canada and New South Wales, Australia.
If advertisements for foreign lotteries appear in magazines published here, the provisions of our law are drawn to the attention of the publishers who have previously undertaken not to publish such advertisements again. In addition, Her Majesty's Customs and Excise has seized substantial quantities of promotional letters intended to be posted individually here but imported in bulk.
Gambling
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any proposals to include the gambling industry within the terms of the European single market after 1992.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. The European Commission is currently examining the gambling sector in the context of the single market, but has not so far produced any formal proposals.
Au Pairs
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many EC member states have a specific definition of au pair ; and in how many cases this definition is confined to women.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We do not have this information.
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many au pairs in the United Kingdom for each of the last five years have entered from (a) each other EC member state, (b) other Commonwealth countries and (c) the rest of the world.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Entry to the United Kingdom as an au pair is restricted to unmarried girls and women aged
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between 17 and 27 who are nationals of the following countries : the member states of the European Community, Andorra, Austria, Cyprus, the Faeroes, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Yugoslavia ; and from 1 January 1992 Czechoslovakia and Hungary. We do not keep records of the entry of EC nationals. Information relating to other nationalities is contained in the annual publication "Control of Immigration : Statistics, United Kingdom," copies of which are in the Library.Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence he has of abuse of au pair arrangements by women seeking to settle in the United Kingdom ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We are not aware of significant abuse of these arrangements.
Mr. Bradley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy on extending the definition of au pair to include men.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I have no plans to extend the au pair scheme to men.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from local authorities about funding under section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966.
Mrs. Rumbold : We received a number of representations from local authorities about the proposals for the more effective administration of section 11 grant, but I regret that no central record is maintained of these. A number of these representations are concerned with the likely scale of funding to be allowed and with the timing of the announcement of that allocation.
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to announce the allocation to local authorities of section 11 funding under the Local Government Act 1966.
Mr. Karamjit Singh Chahal
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will release Mr. Karamjit Singh Chahal from Bedford prison ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : Mr. Chahal was detained following the decision to deport him in August 1990 for reasons of national security and for other reasons of a political nature, namely the fight against international terrorism. I am reviewing Mr. Chahal's application for asylum in accordance with the recent judgment of the High Court on his application for judicial review of my decision. In the meantime I am satisfied that Mr. Chahal should remain in detention.
Index of Prostitutes
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the criteria for inclusion on the central index of prostitutes ; how often each entry is reviewed ; and what are the criteria for the removal of names from the index.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the Commissioner that the central index of prostitutes records all persons in the Metropolitan police district who have been cautioned for loitering or soliciting for purposes of prostitution, or who have been charged with or convicted of these offences. Records of cautions are deleted after 12 months ; records of charges are retained until the notification of the court disposal is received ; and information relating to outstanding warrants is kept pending execution or cancellation. Records of conviction are retained indefinitely.Belmarsh Prison
Mr. Maclennan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the letters sent to him and to his Minister of State from the hon. Member for Caithness and Sutherland dated 9 July, 31 July, 29 August and 9 October about Belmarsh prison.
Mrs. Rumbold : A reply to the hon. Gentleman's letters of 9 July, 31 July, 29 August and 9 October about Belmarsh prison was sent on 9 December. I regret the delay.
National Lottery
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an estimate of the employment implications, including those for existing jobs, of the introduction of a national lottery.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The employment implications of a national lottery cannot be assessed with any accuracy at this stage. It is one of the matters included in the Government's further consideration of the arguments for and against allowing one or more privately run lotteries on a national scale.
Immigration (Domestic Workers)
Sir Alan Glyn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are taken to ensure that employers will provide adequate conditions, food and sleeping accommodation when they apply for visas for immigrants to work in private houses in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Under exceptional arrangements outside the immigration rules, a domestic servant may be admitted to continue to work for an employer here, but only if the domestic servant has worked abroad for the employer for a substantial period. Before an entry clearance is granted, the employer must accept responsibility for the maintenance and accommodation of the domestic worker. While in the United Kingdom domestic workers are entitled to the normal protection of our law, as is made clear in a leaflet given to each domestic worker who is granted an entry clearance abroad or an extension of stay in the United Kingdom.
Drugs Prevention Initiative
Sir John Wheeler : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made with the Government's drugs prevention initiative.
Mr. Kenneth Baker : Sixteen local drugs prevention teams are now in action, and the remaining four are in the
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process of being recruited and appointed. A full progress report on the initiative has been published today, and a copy has been placed in the Library.Young Offenders
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is (a) the average and (b) the maximum number of hours that young people being held at Feltham are kept in solitary confinement in their cells ;
(2) if he will state the average number of hours per day that young offenders are held alone in cells in Feltham young offenders institution.
Mrs. Rumbold [holding answers 26 November 1991 and 2 December 1991] : Solitary confinement is not a term used in the prison service, though there will be times when, for a variety of reasons, young people will be alone in their cells.
It is not possible to give an average figure for the amount of time spent by young people alone in their cells in Feltham young offenders institution. Generally, however, all prisoners who are accommodated in single cells will be alone between 9 in the evening and 8 the following morning. During the day, young prisoners on the convicted side of the establishment will be out of their cells for about seven to eight hours each day during the week and for about five to six hours during the weekend, on top of which they will receive any visits to which they are entitled. On the unconvicted side of the establishment, young prisoners will spend five to six hours out of their cells, plus any visits they are allowed to receive.
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to ensure that the results of students with special educational needs in further education in (a) public examinations and (b) non-examined courses are recorded and publicised in a way which reflects their achievements positively.
Mr. Eggar : Under the Further and Higher Education Bill currently before Parliament, the Secretary of State will have the power to make regulations requiring the governing body of any institution within the further education sector to publish details about the educational achievements of their students, including those with special educational needs.
Schools Reorganisation, Plymouth
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is in a position to make a decision on the proposed schools reorganisation in Plymouth, as submitted by Devon local education authority ; and if he will make a statement.
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