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Young Offenders (Psychiatric Assistance)

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about the length of delays for transferring individuals from young offenders institutions who have been assessed as requiring psychiatric assistance; and if he will make a statement. [63675]

Mr. George Howarth: I am not aware of any representations. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons has, in his Inspection Reports, drawn attention to problems about the availability of hospital places for prisoners needing that level of psychiatric care. The Government's plans for addressing these problems are set out in the Department of Health White Paper "Modernising Mental Health Services--Safe, fair and supportive".

Prisoner Programmes

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the level of purposeful activity per week undertaken by prisoners, broken down into (a) education, (b) work, (c) training and (d) rehabilitation programmes in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [63671]

Mr. George Howarth: Information on the average weekly time spent by purposeful activity in each of the last five years is given in the table.

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 742

Average hours purposeful activity per prisoner per week

	Work	Education and Training
1998-99 to date	12.9	3.9
1997-98	13.3	4.1
1996-97	13.5	4.3
1995-96	14.3	4.9
1994-95	14.5	5.2

Note:

Work is defined as time spent in support to works and maintenance staff, workshops, farms, gardens, kitchens and other domestic work. Information on Education and Training activities are combined. The year to October information for 1998-99 is provisional and subject to validation by Prisons. The Prison Service does not record separately time spent engaged in rehabilitation programmes.

Police Budgets (Pensions)

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of each police force budget has been spent on pensions in each of the last three years; what estimate he has made of the average proportion of police budgets which will be spent on pensions in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement. [63673]

Mr. Boateng: The information requested in respect of years 1996-97 to 1998-99 is set out in the table. Information on police authority budgets and pension costs for the next three years is not available. Police authority budgets are not set until the beginning of each year following the revenue settlement announced by the Government. Pension costs will in part be influenced by retirements in each preceding year.

Net police pension costs

	1996-97			1997-98			1998-99
	£000			£000			£000
Force	Net pensions costs	Net revenue expenditure	% of net expenditure	Net pensions costs	Estimated net expenditure	% of net expenditure	Net pensions costs	Estimated net expenditure	% of net expenditure
Avon and Somerset	22,122	152,087	14.5	24,741	160,658	15.4	26,877	167,417	16.1
Bedfordshire	5,422	56,627	9.6	5,997	59,787	10.0	6,982	62,317	11.2
Cambridgeshire	7,140	65,024	11.0	8,597	69,286	12.4	8,463	71,230	11.9
Cheshire	7,917	94,177	8.4	9,470	101,787	9.3	11,580	106,523	10.9
City of London	6,636	57,317	11.6	7,205	61,691	11.7	8,291	60,862	13.6
Cleveland	8,694	73,108	11.9	9,451	78,893	12.0	11,108	82,282	13.5
Cumbria	7,307	56,856	12.9	8,138	59,990	13.6	8,715	63,000	13.8
Derbyshire	11,075	90,420	12.2	12,430	96,211	12.9	13,788	100,894	13.7
Devon and Cornwall	19,006	150,392	12.6	20,343	158,010	12.9	23,165	167,117	13.9
Dorset	7,618	67,831	11.2	8,225	70,043	11.7	9,486	73,497	12.9
Durham	8,233	68,035	12.1	9,121	73,698	12.4	10,166	78,103	13.0
Dyfed Powys	5,979	47,869	12.5	6,519	50,481	12.9	6,926	52,609	13.2
Essex	14,785	151,412	9.8	16,300	161,020	10.1	19,361	168,889	11.5
Gloucestershire	7,978	58,420	13.7	8,489	60,795	14.0	9,138	63,780	14.3
Greater Manchester	47,275	341,170	13.9	50,089	355,133	14.1	59,380	371,497	16.0
Gwent	5,735	57,742	9.9	8,144	65,162	12.5	7,712	67,919	11.4
Hampshire	16,432	172,845	9.5	18,499	182,512	10.1	20,009	190,920	10.5
Hertfordshire	7,930	88,863	8.9	8,421	93,952	9.0	9,499	97,859	9.7
Humberside	10,849	99,719	10.9	12,428	107,800	11.5	13,584	111,587	12.2
Kent	14,601	161,625	9.0	19,427	170,625	11.4	20,867	178,916	11.7
Lancashire	22,481	161,865	13.9	22,650	171,341	13.2	24,802	178,051	13.9
Leicestershire	10,273	92,853	11.1	11,754	97,454	12.1	12,566	102,707	12.2
Lincolnshire	7,792	61,508	12.7	8,546	65,776	13.0	10,057	68,322	14.7
Merseyside	35,211	221,172	15.9	39,256	235,027	16.7	37,483	245,277	15.3
Metropolitan Police	170,677	1,683,181	10.1	172,780	1,706,602	10.1	210,438	1,778,001	11.8
Norfolk	9,832	75,547	13.0	11,376	80,766	14.1	10,148	82,339	12.3
North Wales	8,829	68,266	12.9	10,223	72,039	14.2	11,138	75,075	14.8
North Yorkshire	9,515	67,042	14.2	11,976	73,456	16.3	12,162	75,638	16.1
Northamptonshire	5,677	59,252	9.6	6,937	64,773	10.7	7,067	67,134	10.5
Northumbria	27,649	186,410	14.8	28,670	195,287	14.7	31,500	205,380	15.3
Nottinghamshire	12,912	113,591	11.4	14,651	119,682	12.2	16,355	124,828	13.1
South Wales	20,376	147,458	13.8	22,745	156,800	14.5	24,861	163,430	15.2
South Yorkshire	13,065	150,949	8.7	16,700	162,950	10.2	17,248	168,205	10.3
Staffordshire	15,465	107,832	14.3	15,446	115,250	13.4	22,383	122,540	18.3
Suffolk	7,973	60,963	13.1	8,550	64,770	13.2	8,385	65,785	12.7
Surrey	8,478	85,345	9.9	10,414	90,735	11.5	11,021	90,738	12.1
Sussex	19,702	150,626	13.1	22,624	156,390	14.5	24,846	162,664	15.3
Thames Valley Police	17,256	201,397	8.6	18,733	212,162	8.8	20,306	221,147	9.2
Warwickshire	4,252	49,686	8.9	6,191	51,451	12.0	6,201	53,617	11.6
West Mercia	10,567	102,078	10.4	11,496	107,701	10.7	12,458	112,879	11.0
West Midlands	34,530	337,992	10.2	42,150	357,166	11.8	42,831	372,296	11.5
West Yorkshire	31,132	265,233	11.7	34,259	273,211	12.5	37,555	280,739	13.4
Wiltshire	7,828	59,993	13.0	6,431	65,250	9.9	7,480	66,666	11.2
Total	754,206	6,619,778	11.4	826,592	6,933,574	11.9	924,388	7,220,676	12.8

Source:

Taken from actual revenue expenditure figures in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy statistics (1996-97), and CIPFA estimates of revenue expenditure (1997-98 and 1998-99)

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 743

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 743

Sexual Offences

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been in the United Kingdom for sexual offences committed against children by United Kingdom nationals in countries overseas in the past three years; and if he will make a statement. [64120]

Mr. Boateng: Part II of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 provides the courts with jurisdiction to deal in this country with British citizens who commit certain sexual offences

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 744

against children abroad. This Act came into effect in September last year. There have been no prosecutions under the Act. However, it was always expected that the Act would be used only as a last resort where a country will not prosecute an alleged offender or where the United Kingdom cannot extradite that person. Prosecutions under Part II of the Act will always be difficult because of the problems of obtaining evidence from abroad to present to a court in this country in relation to offences committed abroad.

The Government are committed to dealing with the evil of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. This

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 745

requires more than having appropriate legislation in place. As part of the Government's comprehensive strategy, the United Kingdom is fully participating in international action to deal with the problem and has shared intelligence and expertise and the training skills of our police with other Governments. These measures demonstrate our commitment to tackling this problem seriously.

17 Dec 1998 : Column: 746

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