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Young Offenders
Mr. David Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made with his plans for a second demanding new regime for young offenders. [25618]
Miss Widdecombe: I am pleased to announce that we have decided to establish a new young offender institution on a site at the military corrective training centre at Colchester.
Colchester young offender institution will begin taking its first prisoners this autumn, building to a maximum population of 32 young men aged between 18 and 21.
The purpose of this initiative is to test the effectiveness of a regime similar to that followed by military detainees in improving the attitude and behaviour of young offenders and in reducing the level of their re-offending after release.
Young offenders will be sent to Colchester having been assessed as suitable for the regime and conditions there. They will not be volunteers. Their day will be long and active, beginning with reveille at 6 am and ending with lights out at 10 pm. They will experience a combination of discipline, education and training reflecting the military ethos of the MCTC.
Colchester young offender institution will operate under the young offender institution rules and Prison Service policy.
It will be run by staff from the Prison Service and by military staff appointed as prison officers. The military commandant if the MCTC will be appointed as the
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governor and he will have as his deputy an experienced Prison Service governor grade. Military staff appointed to the young offender institution will be thoroughly trained.
Young offenders' progress will be monitored while at Colchester and afterwards. The results will be compared with those from a group of similar young offenders from a normal young offender institution.
This is the second of two tough, disciplined and demanding new regimes for young offenders. The first is the high intensity training programme at Thorn Cross young offender institution which my right hon and learned Friend announced last year and which will take its first inmates in the summer.
Together, these initiatives represent a serious and determined attempt by Her Majesty's Government to find a way to break the cycle of re-offending among persistent young offenders.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the differences between the ratio of prison officers with non-medical responsibilities to prisoners at Buckley Hall and those at male category C prisons, in respect of all shifts. [24278]
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 3 April 1996]: 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 Richard Tilt to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 17 April 1996:
Miss Widdecombe
[holding answer 3 April 1996]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange a reply to be given.
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Letter from Richard Tilt to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 17 April 1996:
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what guidance he has issued concerning the use of CS gas in the trials now being conducted; [23966]
(3) if he will deposit in the Library the guidelines he issued regarding the use of CS gas spray by police forces in the pilot areas. [24710]
Mr. Maclean:
My right hon. and learned Friend has not issued guidance to police officers participating in the trials. The Association of Chief Police Officers has provided guidelines on the use of CS in any circumstances where this may be necessary and on the aftercare of subjects who have been sprayed. Copies have been placed in the Library.
Mr. George Howarth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if a site has been chosen to replace the proposed Campsfield House site. [25197]
Mr. Maclean:
No. An alternative site is actively being sought.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the organisations and police forces whose crime-fighting information will be co-ordinated via the new police information technology organisation; and if he will make a statement. [25023]
Mr. Maclean:
The police information technology organisation exists in order to provide services to the police forces of England, Wales and Scotland. In particular, it operates the police national computer which holds information contributed by all these forces.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 29 March, Official Report, column 791, to the hon. Member for Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin) on police information systems and information technology, what evaluation he has made of extending the role of the Data Protection Registrar to cover arrangements for police data held by a private company following compulsory competitive tendering arrangements; and if he will make a statement. [25022]
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Mr. Maclean:
The Data Protection Act 1984 will continue to apply to such data.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 29 March, Official Report, column 791, to the hon. Member for Stockton, South (Mr. Devlin) on police information systems and information technology, if he will (a) list the specific exemptions, (b) set out the reduction in overall competition requirement, (c) list the number and nature of the likely contracts involved, their duration and what provision they will contain to ensure security of personal data and (d) list what tender procedures will apply; and if he will make a statement on the arrangements he proposes to ensure the security of personal data. [25021]
Mr. Maclean:
The extension of compulsory competitive tendering to police authority information systems-information technology support services in England and Wales will be adjusted so as to exclude.
Ms Lynne:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners required medical treatment following the break-in by prisoners of the hospital at Buckley Hall in August 1994; how many received medical treatment in local hospitals; and who was responsible for the payment of the health care received by them. [24283]
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the differences between the ratio of prison officers with non-medical responsibilities to prisoners at Buckley Hall prison and those at male category C prisons, in respect of all shifts.
The information requested, as at 1 April, is shown in the attached table. health care provision at Buckley Hall prison is contracted-out and so the ratio of staff to inmates includes all prisoner custody officers. The ratio for male category C prisons includes establishments where only a proportion of the prison population is made up of category C prisoners. The staffing ratio for these prisons comprises prison officers, senior officers and principal officers.
Information concerning the impact of shift patterns on the staffing ratio is not collected centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Establishment Staff: Inmate ratio
Buckley Hall 1:2.7
Male category C training establishments 1:2.1
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of prisoners requiring medical treatment following the break-in by prisoners to the hospital at Buckley Hall prison in August 1994; and who was responsible for the payment for the healthcare which they received.
No prisoner required medical treatment in the 24-hour period following the break-in by prisoners to the hospital at Buckley Hall prison in August 1994.
One prisoner subsequently received medical treatment in a local hospital and was returned to the prison. The Regional Health Authority responsible for the area in which this prisoner normally resided would be charged for his treatment.
(2) what guidance is given to police forces testing the use of CS gas about its use in confined spaces; [23964]
(a) the user support and systems operation, excluding routine maintenance, of integrated communications infrastructures in support of operational policing, including radio, telephony and data services.
The overall competition requirement will be 55 per cent. It will be for individual police authorities to decide how best to meet their CCT obligations within the overall statutory framework. It is not possible at this stage to anticipate the number and nature of the likely contracts which might be involved.
(b) the user support and systems operation, excluding routine maintenance, of operational systems, and the provision of IS/IT technical expertise and support for investigations surveillance and crime preventions;
(c) the user support and systems operation, excluding routine maintenance, for the operational investigation of computer crime;
(d) all IS/IT services carried out by police authorities on behalf of regional crime squads; and
(e) all operational and specialist IS/IT training, and associated training services, in respect of police officers and the IS/IT training of civilian support to the extent such training relates to preventing and detecting crime; upholding the law; bringing to justice those who break the law; and protecting, helping and reassuring the community.
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