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Prisoners (Alcohol and Drugs)
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many serving prisoners were convicted of criminal offences committed during the currency of their sentence in the most recent year for which figures are available; and how many of these offences were drink or drugs-related. [8572]
Mr. George Howarth: Information on prisoners convicted of criminal offences committed whilst in custody is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
According to court proceedings data for 1995 collected centrally, 166 persons were returned to custody under sections 38 and 65 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991--failure to comply with early release licence conditions. Of these, six persons were sentenced at the same court
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appearance for driving etc. after consuming alcohol or drugs. There were no persons sentenced for drug offences or for drunkenness.
In 1995, 299 persons were returned to custody under section 40 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991--commission of a new offence before the previous sentence is served in full. Of these, five persons were sentenced at the same court appearance for drug offences and seven persons were sentenced for driving etc. after consuming alcohol or drugs. There were no persons sentenced for drunkenness.
In 1995, a further 185 prisoners were recalled by the Parole Board under section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991, of which 84 had committed further offences. Information on their offences is not readily available.
1996 data will not be available until the autumn.
Mr. Malins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what measures he proposes to reduce illegal drug taking and alcohol consumption in prisons; [8567]
Mr. Howarth:
In 1996-97 some 21,700 mandatory drug test samples were positive for drugs. This figure includes results from both random and targeted tests which led to 16,757 adjudications for misuse of controlled drugs. Information on the number of instances of alcohol consumption is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Knowingly consuming alcohol became a disciplinary offence in February this year. The first use of this charge in disciplinary proceedings occurred in May.
The Government are fully committed to reducing the level of substance misuse in prisons. We intend to build on existing measures to reduce the supply of drugs in prisons by a combination of mandatory drug testing and drug treatment programmes. The Prisons (Alcohol Testing) Act was enacted in March this year. The Prison Service is currently considering the implementation of a pilot programme of mandatory alcohol testing.
Mr. Malins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what Government schemes currently exist to enable serving prisoners to cure alcoholism or drug abuse. [8571]
Mr. Howarth:
All prisons provide detoxification, education and counselling facilities to prisoners with substance misuse problems via the prison health care centre, probation department or community drug agencies. Many provide additional drug treatment programmes, for example, rehabilitation units or drug free areas supported by voluntary testing. The Prison Service is also spending £6.09 million this year on pilot drug treatment projects at 59 establishments. These include therapeutic communities, three-month treatment programmes, enhanced detoxification units, intensive counselling and education services and community-linked throughcare programmes.
Mr. Malins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what improvements he proposes to
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make in his procedures to search prison visitors to ensure that no illegal drugs or alcohol are brought into prisons.[8566]
Mr. Howarth:
The Prison Service is implementing a range of measures to improve searching procedures which will minimise the smuggling of contraband into prisons. The most important one is the issuing of the new security manual at the turn of the year. This will publicise new standardised procedures for searching prisoners, visitors and vehicles, and will reinforce messages on good local supervision and audit of procedures. Recent increases in local training time should also contribute towards the improvement in searching procedures.
Mr. Malins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has held with (a) the Prison Officers Union and (b) prison governors concerning illegal drug taking and alcohol consumption in prisons; and if he will make a statement. [8570]
Mr. Howarth:
We have not as yet had the opportunity for substantive talks on these particular topics. We are fully committed to reducing the level of drug and alcohol misuse in prisons and we will discuss developments with the trade unions as they arise.
Mr. Forth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for the further consideration of private sector involvement in the Prison Service (a) the expected completion date and (b) the cost of conducting the review. [8252]
Ms Joyce Quin:
It is planned that the review should be completed by December and will be undertaken within existing resources with no significant additional cost.
Mr. Mullin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what papers were removed from the file on Raphael Rowe before it was passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission; what has become of these papers; and if he will make a statement. [7859]
Mr. Michael:
The files on all cases outstanding in the Home Office at the time the Criminal Cases Review Commission took on its caseworking responsibilities were transferred to the Commission in accordance with the terms of section 18(3) and (4) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. Material containing (a) advice from officials to Ministers, and Ministers' responses, and (b) legal advice to the Department, was removed from the files before transfer in accordance with convention. All such material has been retained on Home Office files.
Mr. Wilshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 22 May, Official Report, column 126, if he will approve the application for grant-maintained status from Ashford high school, Middlesex. [7806]
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Ms Estelle Morris:
The proposals from Ashford high school are under consideration and I cannot prejudge the final decision.
Ms Walley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children in the constituency of Stoke on Trent, North reached the level expected for 11-year-olds in (a) literacy and (b) numeracy in each of the last five years. [7327]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The percentage of pupils reaching level 4 and above--the level expected for 11-year-olds--in the 1995 and 1996 English and mathematics National Curriculum tests in the schools in Stoke on Trent, North for which data are available is shown in the table. The national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds were introduced only in 1995.
(2) how many instances of illegal drug taking and alcohol consumption in prisons were discovered in the most recent year for which figures are available; and how many resulted in disciplinary action. [8569]
| English | Mathematics | |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 34 | 29 |
| 1996 | 48 | 44 |
Primary Class Sizes
Mr. Colvin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those LEAs which (a) contain primary schools with class sizes above 30 and (b) have surplus primary school places. [7367]
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Mr. Byers:
All local education authority areas had surplus places in primary schools and all except City of London and Isles of Scilly had class sizes above 30 in primary schools. This information relates to January 1996, the latest date for which information on both surplus places and class sizes is available.
Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will calculate the correlation between the number of statemented children in each secondary school and examination success by the schools in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Richmond (Surrey), the East Riding, Calderdale, Barnsley and Sheffield. [7666]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Available data for maintained secondary schools in these local education authority (LEA) areas, as published in performance tables in November 1996, are shown in the following table. Figures for numbers of 15-year-old pupils and for the percentages of such pupils achieving five or more GCSE grades A*-C relate to examinations in academic year 1995-96. Figures for numbers of pupils on roll and numbers with statements are taken from the Annual Schools Census in January 1996, with schools listed by the LEA in whose area they were located as at November 1996. Information on numbers of statements by age of pupil is not collected centrally, so it is not possible to correlate between numbers of 15-year-olds with statements and percentages of this age group achieving examination successes.
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Mr. Mitchell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the number per thousand pupils of statemented children in North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Richmond (Surrey), the East Riding, Calderdale, Barnsley and Sheffield. [7701]
Ms Morris:
Schools' returns for January 1996, the latest available, were aggregated for local education authorities existing at that time. North East Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire became unitary authorities in April 1996 so, other than for schools appearing in performance tables, information on numbers of statements aggregated for these authorities is not readily available. Returns from schools in the other local education authorities are summarised in the following table.
| Local education authority | Total pupils(7) | Pupils with statements(7) | Number of pupils with statements per thousand pupils | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincolnshire | 97,785 | 3,180 | 32.5 | |
| North Yorkshire(8)117,701 | 2,787 | 23.7 | ||
| Richmond upon Thames | 26,778 | 482 | 18.0 | |
| Calderdale | 35,726 | 821 | 23.0 | |
| Barnsley | 35,313 | 1,054 | 29.8 | |
| Sheffield | 77,529 | 1,848 | 23.8 | |
(7) Includes pupils in nursery, primary, middle, secondary, independent and special schools and pupil referral units within the local education authority area.
(8) Includes schools which transferred to the area of City of York local education authority from April 1996.
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