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Employment of Children
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish his Department's consultation document on the employment of children. [38174]
NHS Consultants
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines are issued to NHS consultants in respect of voicing matters of public concern to the media; and in what circumstances trusts are authorised to take disciplinary action. [38360]
Mr. Malone: The national health service executive's "Guidance for staff on relations with the public and the media EL(93)51" clearly indicates the manner by which staff concerns about health care issues should be raised.
Decisions about disciplinary matters are entirely for NHS employers. Copies of EL(93)51 are available in the Library.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were lost in sickness in the last 12 months by employees in his Department (a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the number of days worked; and what was the cost of this absence. [34600]
Mr. Sackville [pursuant to the reply, 14 July 1995, column 825]: I regret that the previous reply contained an error. The figure for estimated days lost through sickness was given as 69,363, representing 6.23 per cent. of working days. The original figures were incorrect because they included all absences, for example staff on maternity leave. New figures from the Occupational Health and Safety Agency show that 48,031 days were lost due to sickness in 1994, some 4 per cent. of working days. This is below the average for the civil service.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Remand Prisoners
Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in each of the last three years were remanded in custody for more than 52 weeks before sentencing. [36745]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Column 401
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. John Whittingdale, dated 20 October 1995:The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking how many prisoners in each of the last three years were remanded in custody for more than 52 weeks before sentencing. The available information relates to the length of time since first reception into a Prison Service establishment in England and Wales and is given in the attached table. Information for 1993 and earlier years is published in "Prison statistics, England and Wales" (tables 2.3 and 2.4 of the 1993 edition, Cm 2893), a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
Remand prisoners held in Prison Service establishments
in
England and Wales on remand for over
12 months on 30 June: 1993-1995<(1)>
On 30 June |<(2)>Numbers held
|for over 12 months
---------------------------------------------------------
1993 |250
1994 |<(3)>290
1995 |<(3)>340
<1> Awaiting trial or sentence. Time since first
reception on remand into a Prison Service establishment.
This includes any intervening time spent on bail, but
excludes time spent in police cells beforehand.
<2> Rounded estimates.
<3> Provisional figures.
Doncaster Prison
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list by category all reported acts of concerted indiscipline, fires, escapes and attempted escapes from prison, escapes and attempted escapes from escort, deaths, hostage situations, wrongful releases, miscellaneous or any other incidents at Doncaster prison from 1 September 1994 to 30 June 1995. [37341]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 20 October 1995 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking for a list by category of all reported acts of concerted indiscipline, fires, escapes and attempted escapes from prison, escapes and attempted escapes from escort, deaths, hostage situations, wrongful releases, miscellaneous or any other incidents at Doncaster Prison from 1st September to 30th June 1995.
The information is given in the attached table.
Incident type |Number
---------------------------------------------------
Assaults |111
Deaths |2
Self-harm |90
Barricades |1
Fires |9
Concerted indiscipline |11
Food refusal |4
Drug finds |152
Tool loss/finds |4
Miscellaneous |10
Failure to return |1
Release in error |3
Hostage |0
Recaptures/surrenders |5
Total |403
Crime Prevention (Advice to Women)
Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list those crime prevention initiatives and publicity campaigns which have been directly targeted at women in the last five years. [37528]
Mr. Maclean: The Home Office runs an on-going campaign providing people with advice on crime prevention. Almost 20 million copies of the original crime prevention handbook were distributed between 1988 and 1994, and 1.75 million copies of the revised edition "Your Practical Guide to Crime Prevention" have been distributed to date. The guide provides detailed advice on how everyone can reduce the risk of assault and make themselves feel safer in their everyday lives, as well as advice on what men can do to help women feel more secure.
In addition, more than 300 crime prevention schemes targeting women's safety have been supported by Government grants totalling £1.3 million under phase 1 of the safer cities programme. The Government also launched a domestic violence awareness campaign on 24 October 1994 called "Domestic Violence--Don't Stand For It". The campaign emphasised that domestic violence is a crime and that everyone had the right to live their life free of fear and abuse. It also encouraged victims to seek the help and assistance that is available.
The Home Office continually evaluates its crime prevention strategy and recently commissioned an independent survey of women's attitudes to personal safety. The results showed that women did not support a personal safety campaign directed specifically at them. It was considered unnecessary and deemed likely to increase the fear of crime.
Police Deaths and Injuries
Sir Anthony Durant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have been killed or injured on duty between 1 January 1992 and 1 January 1995. [37495]
Mr. Maclean: The following is the readily available information for England and Wales:
Number of assaults on police officers involving death or injury
|Serious |Other/minor
|Fatal assault|assault |assault
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 |- |963 |17,145
1993 |2 |886 |17,062
1994 (1st quarter) |1 |229 |3,779
1994-95 |- |1,108 |14,033
Police officers killed or seriously injured in the course
of either
police pursuits or responses to emergency calls
|Fatal injury |Serious injury
------------------------------------------------------------
1992 |2 |112
1993 |5 |113
1994 |-<1> |-<1>
<1>Not yet available
Fear of Crime
Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of police forces which have conducted a fear of crime survey in accordance with the Home Office guidelines, together with the results of such surveys. [37523]
Mr. Maclean: I regret that this information is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost. However, the Home Office monitors fear of crime in England and Wales through its biennial British crime survey. The results are published regularly and provide a national benchmark against which the findings of local surveys can be compared.
Supermarket Car Parks (Security)
Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he is giving to crime prevention advice to shoppers using supermarket car parks and to the proprietors of supermarkets about improved security. [37527]
Mr. Maclean: The Home Department takes the lead in the provision of crime prevention advice. To date, 1,750,000 copies of the revised handbook "Your Practical Guide to Crime Prevention", have been distributed. Although the guide does not contain advice aimed specifically at users of supermarket car parks, much of the advice is relevant.
Advice for motorists using car parks is included in a new Home Office car crime prevention leaflet which I shall be launching at the Earls Court motor show next week.
We are also encouraging all owners and operators of car parks to improve security on site. To this end, we have endorsed the Association of Chief Police Officers' secured car parks scheme under which awards are made to car parks meeting strict design criteria. These criteria are currently being re-examined with a view to achieving greater take-up of the scheme.
Advice for proprietors of supermarkets is available in the form of a series of crime prevention booklets produced by the retail action group, a sub- group which was set up in 1993 by the original National Board for Crime Prevention. In January 1994, advice on the prevention of robbery and of burglary was published; advice on the prevention of violence to staff, customer theft and external fraud will be published shortly.
Obscenity Laws
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the topics which have been discussed at the last two meetings of the working group on obscenity. [38169]
Mr. Kirkhope: The group has met three times so far. The main topics discussed have been the use of computer networks for the importation and dissemination of obscene material; the enforcement of laws against child pornography; the display of indecent material in newsagents; and research to compare what is considered indecent and obscene in other countries.
Column 404
Mrs. Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions and convictions there were under section 2 and section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 in (a) 1970, (b) 1975, (c) 1980, (d) 1985, (e) 1990 and (f) 1994; and how many of these did not involve pornography. [38167]
Mr. Maclean: The available information is given in the table. Data before 1979 are not available and the statistics cannot separately identify cases which involve pornography. The 1994 data are provisional.
The number of offenders prosecuted and the number found guilty
at all courts for offences of possessing obscene material for
gain<1>
England and Wales Number of offenders
Year
|1980 |1985 |1990 |<2>1994
------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of prosecutions |183 |275 |174 |309
Total number found guilty |118 |226 |116 |266
<1> An offence under section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act
1959 as amended by the Obscene Publications Act, 1964 section 1.
<2> 1994 data is provisional.
Armley Prison
Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when it is now estimated the practice of slopping out will be eliminated in Her Majesty's prison Armley, Leeds. [38166]
Miss Widdecombe: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. John Battle, dated 20 October 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the elimination of slopping out at Leeds prison.
It is planned that C and D wings will be closed for refurbishment (including installation of in-cell sanitation) in February 1996. Prisoners will be moved to accommodation on A wing, which is being refurbished at present. Once this is completed there will be no prisoners at Leeds without 24 hour access to sanitation.
Young Prisoners
Mrs. Roche: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many 15 and 16-year-olds were held in adult prisons (a) in London and (b) nationally awaiting trial in each of the last five years. [33807]
Miss Widdecombe [holding answer 12 July 1995]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 20 October 1995 :
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question on how many 15 and 16 year olds were held in adult prisons (a) in London and (b) nationally awaiting trial in each of the last five years.
The available information is for the establishments receiving untried prisoners and is given in the attached table.
Column 405
Receptions of 15 and 16 year old untried prisoners into adult
Prison Service establishments in England and Wales 1990-94
Year |Number received into
|an adult
|establishment
---------------------------------------------------------------
1990
London |0
England and Wales |187
1991
London |0
England and Wales |134
1992
London |0
England and Wales |23
1993
London |0
England and Wales |18
1994<1>
London |0
England and Wales |100
<1> Provisional figures.
Daily Sport
Mrs. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the British Retail Consortium on the positioning of the Daily Sport ; and if he will place a copy of advice to newsagents in the Library. [38168]
Mr. Kirkhope: Officials have corresponded with the National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the British Retail Consortium about the display of The Sport newspapers. Following that correspondence, both organisations decided to recommend to their members that copies of The Sport newspapers should be displayed only on the "top shelf". We understand that the NFRN has,
Column 406
however, delayed the issue of its recommendation pending further discussions with the publishers of The Sport newspapers.Sentencing
Mr. Devlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if paragraph 1 of schedule 5 to the Criminal Justice Act 1993 has been implemented. [38849]
Mr. Maclean: This technical provision should have been included in commencement order No. 8. It was brought into force on 14 August by means of commencement order No. 9.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Common Agricultural Policy
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the draft CAP budget expenditure published by the EU for 1996; what is the legal limit of such expenditure; and what was the actual expenditure in each of the past 10 years. [37631]
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 19 July 1995]: The 1996 draft budget for common agricultural policy expenditure has been set at the level of the guideline--the legally binding ceiling on CAP expenditure--of 40,828 million ecu or £34,069 million. Initial indicators are that 1995 expenditure will be about 35,000 mecu or about £28,000 million, some 3,000 mecu or £2,418 million below the guideline. This is 1,047 mecu or £838 million within the EU guideline of 37,944 mecu or £30,375 million. Expenditure in 1994 was 32,970 mecu or £25,264 million, some 3,495 mecu or £2,678 million below the guideline. Details of expenditure on the common agricultural policy in previous years are contained in the annual financial reports on the European Agricultural guidance and guarantee fund, guarantee section, copies of which have been deposited in the Library of the House. The latest available report relates to 1993.
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