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Mr. Charles Wardle : These are matters for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.
Vandalism
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the reported number of cases of vandalism in each of the police divisions covering the South Yorkshire area in each of the last four years, and the current year to date.
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Mr. Maclean : The available information by division relates to offences of arson and criminal damage and is published annually in the report of the chief constable of South Yorkshire. Copies of this publication are available in the Library.
James Bulger Murder
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the length of time the two boys sentenced for the murder of James Bulger will be detained.
Mr. Howard : I have not yet received the views of the judiciary on this case. When I do, each offender will be informed, as soon as is reasonably practicable, of the substance of the judicial recommendations. The boys, or those acting on their behalf, will then be given the opportunity to submit written representations before I decide the period to be served for retribution and deterrence. My decision will be conveyed to the two boys--or their
representatives--and, if it differs from the period recommended by the judiciary, reasons will be given.
The arrangements for determining the period of custody which those convicted of murder are required to serve in order to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence were set out in my replies of 27 July, Official
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Report, columns 863-65, and 4 November, Official Report, columns 376-78, to the hon. and learned Member for Burton (Sir I. Lawrence).Bomb-proofing
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the cost, by location, of bomb-proofing the Department's premises.
Mr. Howard : On security grounds, I do not propose to give this information.
Males (Convictions)
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of males have a conviction before the age of 35 years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : It is estimated from the offenders index that 35 per cent. of males born in 1953 had a conviction for at least one offence on the "standard list" by the age of 35. Further information is published in "Digest 2 : Information on the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales", which is available in the Library. Estimates from the Home Office offenders index covering all convictions for "standard list" offences since 1963. Results from the 1953 birth cohort sample.
Mainly indictable offences but includes some summary offences such as assault on a constable and cruelty to or neglect of children.
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Custody
Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the total number of persons in custody in 1990, 1991 and 1992 who were (a) awaiting trial or (b) imprisoned in default of payment of fines.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. David Nicholson, dated 2 December 1993 :
Receptions of untried prisoners and fine defaulters
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the total number of persons in custody in 1990, 1991 and 1992 who were (a) awaiting trial or (b) imprisoned in default of payment of a fine.
Information for 1990 and 1991 was published in the 1991 edition of "Prison statistics England and Wales" (Table 1.14 of the 1991 edition, Cm 2157) a copy of which is in the library. Information for 1992 is only currently available from 1 January to 31 August 1992. During this period 35,689 untried prisoners and 13,308 sentenced fine defaulters were received into Prison Service establishments in England and Wales.
Prison Statistics
Mr. Cox : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the number of hospital beds at each of the London prisons as of 22 November ; and what was the number of prison inmates being held in each of these prison hospital wings on that date.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 2 December 1993 : The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of available hospital beds at each of the London prisons on 22 November and the number of occupied on that date. The information requested is as follows :
A
|Number of beds|Number of beds
|occupied
-----------------------------------------------------------------
HMP Belmarsh |73 |47
HMP Brixton |66 |62
HMYOI Feltham |30 |26
HMP Holloway |86 |85
HMP Pentonville |26 |18
HMP Wandsworth |39 |36
HMP Wormwood Scrubs |51 |48
Victim Support
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans the Government have to increase funding of (a) the victims support scheme in general and (b) Lewisham victim support scheme.
Mr. Maclean : Additional funding for Victim Support was included in the public expenditure plans presented to Parliament by my right hon. and learned Friend the
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Chancellor of the Exchequer on 30 November. The Home Office grant to Victim Support in 1994-95 is being increased by 20 per cent. to just over £10 million. Two further annual increases of 8 per cent. are planned, taking projected funding for 1995-96 and 1996-97 to £10.8 million and £11.7 million respectively.The allocation of the Home Office grant to local schemes and branches and the priorities which guide that allocation are matters for the Victim Support local funding panel, a sub-committee of Victim Support's national council.
Deaths (Fires)
Mrs. Bridget Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in (a) south-east London and (b) in the London borough of Lewisham died as a result of a fire in a bed-sitter or multi- tenant flats in each year since 1980.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information is not available centrally.
Public Houses
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department will carry out a review of licensing procedures in those cases where a lessee of a public house passes the lease and the licence to a holding company ; and if he will make a statement.
Swansea Prison
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes are planned in prisoner numbers at Swansea prison over the next five years. Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Alan Williams, dated 2 December 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about whether any changes are planned in prisoner numbers at Swansea prison over the next five years.
The present certified normal accommodation of Swansea prison is 232 with an operational capacity of 285.
Current plans for Swansea include an extension to D Wing and the building of a new houseblock.
It is planned to close D Wing in March 1994 to enable work to commence on the redevelopment. Although there will be an initial loss of 78 operational capacity places, this is part of a wider plan to increase the overall operational capacity to 125. This work should be completed by June 1996.
Work should then commence on the building of a new houseblock, providing an additional 70 single cells by March 1998.
is programmed to close in December 1994 with a loss of 60 operatio- 9eMr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for theHome Department what representations he has received about the provision of modesty screening for Swansea prison ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Peter Lloyd : Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from D. Lewis to Mr. Alan Williams, dated 2 December 1993 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about representations he received about the provision of modesty screening for Swansea prison.
Provision of 24 hour access to sanitation for prisoners at Swansea is part of the overall sanitation programme set out in the White Paper "Custody, Care and Justice". Given the high population and extensive refurbishment programme at Swansea, it was decided that simple sanitation would be the most appropriate system to install. This involves the installation of a toilet and washbasin in each two person cell, but without any modesty screening. Sixty cells, each accommodating two prisoners, have been converted to date. The bunk bed in the cell is positioned on the same side of the cell as the toilet.
No representations have been received about the lack of modesty screening. It is understood that prisoners are generally content with the arrangement.
Siemion Serafimowicz
Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement of the status of Siemion Serafimowicz as a resident in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Charles Wardle : It is not our practice to make public information from immigration records relating to individuals.
Fraud Trials
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will reconsider his response to the recommendations of Lord Roskill about the handling of fraud trials.
Mr. Maclean : The majority of the recommendations made by the Fraud Trials Committee, chaired by Lord Roskill, were accepted by the Government and implemented in the Criminal Justice Act 1987. The operation of that Act, and the handling of fraud trials generally, is kept under review. In particular, in June 1993, the Lord Chancellor's Department produced the interim report of the working group on long criminal trials, which examined ways of shortening and simplifying such trials, including fraud trials. The recommendations in that report are being considered alongside those made by the Royal Commission on criminal justice relating to the investigation, pre -trial arrangements and conduct of fraud trials. In addition, my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General announced a review of the Serious Fraud Office and the fraud investigation group of the Crown Prosecution Service on 18 October.
Sentences
Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the Criminal Justice Act 1988 so that sentences in all cases can be referred to the Court of Appeal.
Mr. Maclean : The Government have already announced an intention to extend the scope of the Attorney-General's power to refer unduly lenient
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sentences to the Court of Appeal to incorporate the most serious sexual and violent offences that are triable either way. There are no plans to bring sentences in all cases within the scope of section 35 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.Refugees
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) how many refugees have been admitted to Britain from former Yugoslavia over the past year ;
(2) how many women from former Yugoslavia have been allowed into the United Kingdom as refugees (a) in their own right and (b) as dependants over the past year.
Mr. Charles Wardle : I have been asked to reply.
In the 12 months October 1992 to September 1993 inclusive around 4, 500 nationals of the former Yugoslavia--excluding dependants--applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. The large majority of these applications are still under consideration and the applicants are being allowed to remain here in the meantime. Comprehensive data on the gender of these principal applicants are not yet available, but provisional data suggest that about 45 per cent. were female. Reliable information on dependants of these applicants is not yet available.
In addition, we have announced that the United Kingdom is willing to accept 1,000 particularly vulnerable individuals--including ex-detainees--from Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, together with their dependants, totalling perhaps 4,000 in all. As of 30 November 1993, around 450 particularly vulnerable individuals and 650 of their dependants have arrived since my initial announcement of these arrangements on 30 November 1992. Most dependants are wives and children. Also a small proportion of vulnerable individuals are women.
EMPLOYMENT
Social Affairs Council
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment, pursuant to his answer of 24 November to the hon. Member for Chingford, (Mr. Duncan Smith), Official Report, column 72, what was the voting record of member states at the meeting of the European Community's Social Affairs Council held on 23 November ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : There were no formal votes at the Labour and Social Affairs Council on 23 November. However :
on the draft directive on working time, the council reached final agreement with the United Kingdom abstaining ;
on the draft directive on young workers, the council agreed to a common position with Spain and Italy abstaining ;
on the draft directive on the protection of workers on board fishing vessels, the Council reached final agreement, with the United Kingdom and France abstaining ; and
a declaration to end the European Year of the Elderly and of solidarity between generations was agreed unanimously.
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Workstart
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many long-term unemployed have taken up the workstart pilot scheme in Cornwall and Devon.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : In the period to 23 November, three long-term unemployed people had been placed in workstart supported employment. Originally Devon and Cornwall training and enterprise council, which is managing this pilot, used its own staff to identify suitable people from the target group for workstart jobs, but this has not worked well. There are difficulties in matching individuals to vacancies in an area as large as Devon and Cornwall.
Following a discussion with Employment Department officials, the TEC has now agreed to work more closely with the employment service's wider network of local offices. This should improve performance in matching individual unemployed people to specific vacancies, which will in future identify suitable clients and match them with vacancies.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many people living in (a) York travel-to-work area and (b) York parliamentary constituency who were registered unemployed at the most recent date for which data is available had been unemployed for (i) less than six months, (ii) between six and 12 months and (iii) more than 12 months.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information requested is given in the following table :
W Claimant Unemployment in York, by Duration (October 1993) Duration of |Travel-to-work area|Parliamentary Unemployment |Constituency --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Up to 6 months |3,688 |2,204 Over 6 and up to 12 months |1,351 |808 Over 12 months |2,043 |1,431 Note-Claimant unemployment figures by duration are available on a quarterly basis for the months of January, April, July and October and are not adjusted for seasonal influences.
Employment Service
Ms Short : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the outcome of interviews carried out by the Employment Service for (i) 1992-93 and (ii) 1993-94, showing the (a) number of adviser new claims taken, (b) number of administrative officers new claims taken, (c) total new claims not pursued, (d) first letters sent for main restart interview, (e) contact rate with restart interview client group, (f) main restart interviews carried out, (g) other interviews carried out, (h) caseload interviews carried out, (i) offers not made, (j) offers not accepted, (k) job placings, (l) EAS--business start-up--starts, (m) ET/TFW starts, (n) employment action starts, (o) other benefit starts, (p) sign offs as a direct result of client adviser action, (q) restart course starts, (r) jobplan workshop starts, (s) joblclub starts, (t) job interview guarantee starts, (u) job search seminar starts, (v) attended job referral service interviews and (w) job review workshop starts.
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Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service Agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Ms Clare Short, dated 2 December 1993 :
As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to write to you direct to respond to your Parliamentary Questions to him about the outcome of interviews carried out by the Employment Service for (i) 1992-93 and (ii) 1993-94, showing the (a) number of adviser new claims taken, (b) number of administrative officers new claims taken, (c) total new claims not pursued, (d) first letters sent for main Restart interview, (e) contact rate with Restart interview client group, (f) main Restart interviews, (g) other interviews, (h) caseload interviews, (i) offers not made, (j) offers not accepted, (k) job placings, (l) EAS (Business Start Up) starts, (m) ET/TFW starts, (n) Employment Action starts, (o) other benefit starts, (p) sign offs as a direct result of client adviser action, (q) Restart Course starts, (r) Jobplan Workshop starts, (s) Jobclub starts, (t) Job Interview Guarantee starts, (u) Job Search Seminar starts, (v) attended Job Referral Service interviews and (w) Job Review Workshops starts. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
It is important to recognise that these figures are only a partial indication of the effectiveness of advisory interviews. Equally important is the effect they have in causing people to leave the register earlier than they would otherwise have done.
The attached table contains the information you requested. During the 1992- 93 operational year all the information you asked for was collected and is represented in column 1 of the table. The Employment Service has changed its performance monitoring at national level for 1993-94 and the information for this year cannot be given in exactly the same format as the previous year. Information for April 1993 to October 1993 is shown in column 2 of the table.
Notes at the foot of the table explain the differences in the information collected for each year.
I hope this is helpful.
As decided by the Administration Committee of the House of Commons, Chief Executive replies to written Parliamentary Questions will now be published in the Official Report. I will also place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
|1 |2
|1992-93 |1993-94
|(to October)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EO New Claims Taken |4.2 million |1.3 million
AO New Claims Taken |270,000 |1.3 million
Total New Claims Not Pursued |481,000 |237,000
1st Letters Sent (main Restart int) |3.2 million |2 million
Contact Rate |99 per cent.|99 per cent.
Main Restart interviews |2.4 million |1.6 million
Other Restart Interviews<1> |364,000 |302,400
Caseload Restart Interviews |87,000 |-
Offers Not Made<2> |419,000 |-
Offers Not Accepted<2> |438,000 |-
Outcomes-All Advisory
Interviews:<3> |- |-
Job Placings |112,000 |65,300
EAS (Business Start Up) Starts |12,300 |-
ET/TFW Starts |115,000 |-
Employment Action Starts |29,000 |-
ED Programme Starts-client left register |- |85,000
Other Benefit Starts |104,000 |59,400
Sign Offs-Result of CA Action |78,300 |54,000
Restart Course Starts |116,460 |-
Jobclub Starts |142,617
JIG Starts |50,340 |-
Job Search Seminar Starts |66,046 |-
Attended Job Referral Service |118,002 |-
Job Review Workshop Starts |32,755 |-
ED Programme Starts-client
remains on register |- |423,173
<1>For 1993-94 this category includes Follow-Up and Caseload Restart Interviews.
<2>Not Collected in 1993-94.
<3>For 1993-94 starts on programmes are not collected individually but included
in one of two categories.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Grace and Favour Apartments
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many grace and favour apartments there are in (a) St. James's palace, (b) Kensington palace and (c) Windsor castle ; to whom they are awarded ; and which members of the royal family have apartments at each palace.
Mr. Sproat : There are 22 grace and favour residences at St. James's palace, 37 at Kensington palace and 122 at Windsor castle and the home park. Grace and favour apartments are awarded to royal household staff for the better performance of their duties. Members of the royal family have apartments or residences at each palace as follows:
Windsor Castle
Her Majesty the Queen
His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh
Royal Lodge, Windsor
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
St. James's Palace (including Clarence House and York House) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
The Prince of Wales
The Duke and Duchess of Kent
Princess Alexandra
Kensington Palace
The Princess of Wales
Princess Margaret
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
Bomb-proofing
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what has been the cost, by location, of bomb-proofing the Department's premises.
Mr. Sproat : On security grounds, I do not propose to give this information.
BBC Contracting
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will establish a public inquiry into BBC contracting.
Mr. Brooke : No. I am satisfied that the management of the BBC is well seized of the need for effective financial controls in all its areas of activity, and is able and willing to investigate and rectify any irregularities which may come to light.
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