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Rented Housing
Mr. Gorrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many houses for (a) social rent and (b) market rent have been completed in each council area in each of the last five years by (i) local authorities, (ii) housing associations and (iii) other sources. [9619]
Mr. Chisholm: Information on new house building by local authorities and the private sector is collected centrally from local authorities. Scottish Homes provides similar information in respect of housing associations.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 613
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 613
Mr. Gorrie:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the Government's target for the number of houses to be built in Scotland for social rent (a) in 1997 and (b) in 1998. [9621]
Mr. Chisholm:
The Government do not set targets for the number of houses to be built in Scotland. We have, however, approved a target for Scottish Homes to provide 2,400 houses for rent by housing associations in 1997-98. Local authorities also plan to build a total of 402 houses in 1997-98 for social rent.
Sir Richard Body:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much money was allocated to the United Kingdom out of the European Union afforestation budget for 1993 to 1997; what are the criteria for such funding; which types of trees are subsidised; over what period the funds are paid; what percentage of the estates concerned are (a) privately owned and (b) public parks; and if he will list them. [10210]
Mr. Chisholm
[holding answer 22 July 1997]: The United Kingdom has been allocated 61.6 million ECU from the European Union's afforestation budget for the period 1993 to 1997 to co-finance work carried out to establish and manage conifer and broadleaf woodlands on former agricultural land. Such work is approved under the woodland grant scheme and the farm woodland premium scheme; grants under the former are paid over a period of five years while annual payments under the latter cover a period of 10 to 15 years. Several thousand payments are made each year under these schemes and a list of all the cases involved could only be produced at disproportionate cost.
As the EU funding is for work carried out on former agricultural land, woodlands in public parks are not generally eligible. Further details of the woodland grant scheme and farm woodland premium scheme are given in explanatory booklets which are held in the Library of the House.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received in the last year from outside bodies in respect of the treatment of juveniles in detention. [9345]
Mr. McLeish:
The Department has not received representations from outside bodies on the treatment of young people aged 17 or under who have been placed in secure accommodation or detained in young offenders institutions or prisons.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 614
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths of juveniles in detention have been recorded in the last year; what method of inquiry was instigated into the deaths; and what were the causes of the deaths. [9262]
Mr. McLeish:
There were no deaths of young people under the age of 17 while living in secure units, or when detained in young offenders institutions or prison.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many institutions hold juvenile detainees; and if he will list these indicating their type and the number of juveniles admitted to each in the last year for which figures are available. [9244]
Mr. McLeish:
The number of young people placed in secure accommodation for the year ending 31 December 1996 and the number of receptions of young prisoners under 16 to the Scottish penal system in the year ended 31 March 1997 is given in the table.
| Name and type of unit | Number of admissions |
|---|---|
| Secure units | |
| St. Mary's Kenmure, Bisopbriggs | (5)64 |
| Rossie School, Montrose | (5)52 |
| Kerelaw School, Stevenston | (5)32 |
| Others(6) | (5)73 |
| Total | (5)221 |
| Penal Establishments | |
| Aberdeen | 2 |
| Barlinnie | 1 |
| Cornton Vale | 2 |
| Edinburgh | 9 |
| Greenock | 4 |
| Inverness | 2 |
| Longriggend | 45 |
| Perth | 6 |
| Polmont Young Offenders Institution | 3 |
| Total | 74 |
(5) Provisional figures.
(6) Braid Unit, Howdenhall, Edinburgh.
Guthrie Unit, St. Katherine's, Edinburgh.
Rimbleton House, Glenrothes.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the inspection and supervision systems for juvenile institutions. [9246]
Mr. McLeish: All local authority secure units for young people are inspected twice a year by local authority inspection units. All secure accommodation for young people, whether run by local authorities or by voluntary organisations are inspected on a rolling programme by the social work services inspectorate.
All prisons, young offenders institutions and legalised police cells may be inspected by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons in Scotland.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 615
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many children currently accompany mothers in detention. [9248]
Mr. McLeish:
On 11 July 1997 there was one mother in detention accompanied by her baby, at HM institution Cornton Vale.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many juveniles are detained in each institution by (a) age and (b) gender. [9250]
Mr. McLeish:
The tables contain the age and gender profiles of those young people placed in secure accommodation and in the Scottish penal establishment on 31 March 1996--provisional figures--and 11 July 1996 respectively.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 616
| Male | Female | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Secure unit | |||
| Rossie | 18 | 4 | 22 |
| St. Mary's Kenmure | 21 | 3 | 24 |
| Kerelaw | 15 | 9 | 24 |
| Others(7) | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| Total | 60 | 24 | 84 |
| HM Prison | |||
| Longriggend | 3 | 0 | 3 |
(7) Braid unit, Howdenhall, Edinburgh (five places). Guthrie unit, St. Katherine's, Edinburgh (seven places). Rimbleton house, Glenrothes (two places).
Those held in Longriggend on 11 July were under 16.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 615
| Secure unit | 8-11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rossie | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| St. Mary's Kenmure | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 24 |
| Kerelaw | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| Others(8) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 6 | 22 | 44 | 10 | 0 | 84 |
(8) Braid unit, Howdenhall, Edinburgh (five places). Guthrie unit, St. Katherine's, Edinburgh (seven places). Rimbleton house, Glenrothes (two places).
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 615
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 615
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of malnutrition have been recorded in respect of juveniles in detention in the last year. [9252]
Mr. McLeish:
There were no cases of malnutrition recorded in respect of young people placed in secure accommodation or detained in young offenders institutions or prison.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what screening, preventive care and medical care is provided for juveniles in detention. [9254]
Mr. McLeish:
Young people have a medical examination at admission to secure accommodation and medical treatment as required thereafter either from their own general practitioner or a local doctor. Young people are referred for specialist treatment when appropriate. The care and placement of young people is subject to regular statutory review procedures and their health and development are considered during these reviews.
Rule 23 of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 1994 provides that the prison medical officer will have responsibility for the general care of the health of every prisoner. Appropriate medical services and facilities for the prevention of illness and their aftercare are provided for the very small number of young prisoners under 16 detained from time to time in prison.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what social and educational assistance is provided for juveniles in detention. [9256]
Mr. McLeish:
Each secure unit has education facilities either on site or available to it. The larger units have education on the premises and can offer full educational programmes. Her Majesty's inspectors of schools inspect
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 616
the provision of education in secure units. A variety of activities are run outside the school programme as part of the young person's social education.
Young prisoners under 16 in Scottish penal establishments have access to education, counselling, and a range of social work services during the generally short time they are held by the Scottish Prison Service.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each incident where juveniles have been detained for reasons other than suspicion or guilt of criminal offences in the last five years. [9305]
Mr. McLeish:
Young people of 17 or under may be placed in secure accommodation because they are a risk either to others or to themselves. The majority of those in secure accommodation have committed offences but figures are not available centrally.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will make a statement on the different prison regimes for juveniles; [9245]
(3) what is the ratio of prison staff to children in detention; [9260]
(4) in what circumstances (a) juveniles in detention may be detained in the same cell as adults, (b) juveniles on remand may share the small cell as sentenced juveniles, (c) juvenile first offenders may share the same cell with persistent offenders and (d) juvenile females may share the same cell with male prisoners. [9289]
Mr. McLeish:
The term "juvenile" is not used in the legislation regulating Scottish penal establishments. The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1963 provided for the detention in young offenders institutions of persons of or
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 617
over 17 years of age but under 21. The lower age limit was reduced to 16 in the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.
Very few young prisoners under 16 are accommodated in the prison system. On 11 July 1997, there were three young male prisoners under 16 in separate accommodation at HM prison Longriggend in a hall which normally holds roughly 50 young male persons aged 16 to 21 on remand. The staffing complement for the hall is nine.
The average period of time spent by young prisoners under 16 in the prison system is very short, and they are not required to work. They do have access to education, counselling, recreation, physical education and library facilities. There are close links with social work services.
Rule 14 of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 1994 requires the governor of an establishment, so far as is reasonably practicable, to keep civil prisoners, untried prisoners and young prisoners apart from other categories. Every effort is made to ensure that a young prisoner under 16 would not share a cell with a prisoner of a different category.
Rule 114 provides that females shall be accommodated in rooms or cells which are entirely separate from rooms or cells used for the accommodation of males. No female would share a cell with a male.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many juveniles are in preventive detention.[9247]
Mr. McLeish:
There are no young people held in within the prison system on preventive detention. Of those young people under 16 who are placed in secure accommodation, a proportion are placed there to prevent further offending. The number of young people placed in secure accommodation for this reason is not held centrally.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the minimum age for the detention of juveniles. [9249]
Mr. McLeish:
The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is eight so a young person may be placed by the courts in a secure unit from this age. However, in practice the minimum age of those placed in secure accommodation is 11. The minimum age for the detention of young people in the Scottish penal system is 14.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of juveniles in detention are accommodated in individual cells. [9251]
Mr. McLeish:
No young person who is placed in secure accommodation is required to share a room. At 11 July, there were three young prisoners under 16 in the custody of the Scottish Prison Service, one in single cell accommodation, two sharing.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland in what circumstances juveniles in detention (a) have free access to drinking water and (b) are able to shave themselves each day. [9253]
Mr. McLeish:
Drinking water is freely available in secure accommodation. Young people are able to shave themselves each day.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 618
In penal establishments during out-of-cell hours, drinking water is freely available in residential halls, work and recreational areas. At other times drinking water is available where there are in-cell facilities, or by the provision of water bottles. Shaving materials are provided as required.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many visits juveniles in detention may receive each week. [9255]
Mr. McLeish:
Visits to young people in secure accommodation are encouraged. The number varies and may be up to several visits in any week, including visits from relatives, friends, social workers and others.
(2) what types of prison work are (a) available and (b) compulsory for juveniles in detention; [9257]
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