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Community Orders

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of community orders were completed successfully at the latest date for which figures are available, and what were the relevant targets of his Department. [75241]

Mr. George Howarth: The table gives provisional results from 1997, shown against targets for 1997-98. While completions will continue to be collected and published, they are no longer key performance indicators and there are no current targets.

		Per cent.
	1997-98 target: to achieve the following completion rates within the framework of the enforcement requirements of National Standards	1997 results (provisional)
Probation order	82	85
Community service order	80	78
Supervision order	80	85
Combination order	80	79

Reconviction Rates

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what were the (i) predicted and (ii) actual

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reconviction rates for persons sentenced to (a) prison and (b) community orders over the last two years for which figures are available; [75240]

(2) what was the two year reconviction rate, with adjustments for pseudo-reconvictions, for (a) community service orders, (b) probation orders, (c) probation centre with specific activities orders, (d) combination orders and (e) imprisonment at the latest date for which figures are available. [75239]

Mr. George Howarth: The most recent available information relates to samples of offenders commencing community penalties or discharged from custody in 1994 and in the first quarter of 1995. Results of a comparison between reconviction rates for the two types of disposal were reported in paragraphs 9.25 to 9.27 in "Prison Statistics, England and Wales, 1997".

The following table contains actual and predicted reconviction rates (within two years of commencement of order or discharge from prison) that were used in this analysis:

	Community penalties (10)	Custody
1994
Actual reconviction rate within two years	54	56
Predicted rate(11)	53	59
Actual-Predicted	1	-3
1995 (1st quarter)
Actual reconviction rate within two years	56	55
Predicted rate(11)	54	58
Actual-Predicted	2	-3

(10) Probation, community service and combination orders

(11) Predicted on the basis of a prediction model applied to community penalty and custody results for a year

The differences between actual and predicted rates do not take account of effect of pseudo-reconvictions. After allowing for the influence of pseudo-reconvictions (effectively a four percentage point adjustment in favour of community penalties) the difference between reconviction rates for those commencing orders or discharged from prison in 1994 was, using unrounded percentages, 0.1 percentage points in favour of custody. This suggests there is currently no discernible difference between reconviction rates for custody and community penalties. The difference for the 1995 samples indicates a similar picture with a difference in favour of custody of one percentage point after the adjustment for predicted rates and pseudo-reconvictions had been made.

The two year reconviction rates for different types of community order and imprisonment are as follows:

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	Actual reconviction rate within two years	Rate adjusted for pseudo-reconvictions
1994
Community service--service order	48	41
Probation with probation centre or specified activity requirement	62	57
Other probation	58	52
Combination order	60	55
Custody	56	54
1995 (1st quarter)
Community service--service order	51	44
Probation with probation centre or specified activity requirement	62	57
Other probation	58	52
Combination order	60	55
Custody	55	53

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Community Safety

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives his Department is undertaking to ensure that other Government departments are identifying areas where they can improve community safety and reduce crime; and if he will make a statement. [75245]

Mr. Boateng: We are working with the Departments of Health and for Education and Employment to produce guidance on how the services for which they are responsible can make a constructive contribution to the work of local crime and disorder reduction partnerships. We will consider what more can be done to ensure that all Departments take account of community safety.

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the Audit Commission report Safety in Numbers, Promoting Community Safety. [75244]

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Mr. Boateng: I welcome the Audit Commission report; it provides a valuable analysis of progress to date and we are studying carefully the recommendations which it contains. We have worked closely with the Audit Commission and other key partners in developing the local crime and disorder reduction partnerships. We intend to continue that co-operation so as to ensure that the initiative is effective.

Police (Civilian Staff)

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (i) civilian staff and (ii) traffic wardens were employed in each police force area on (a) the last date for which figures are available and (b) 31 March 1997. [75246]

Mr. Boateng: The latest available information is set out in the table.

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Civilian and traffic warden strength (12), by Police Force, as at 31 March 1997 and 30 September 1998

	Civilians(13)		Traffic wardens
	31 March 1997	30 September 1998	31 March 1997	30 September 1998
Avon and Somerset	1,439	1,435	108	101
Bedfordshire	484	513	31	26
Cambridgeshire	607	572	39	37
Cheshire	735	786	34	33
City of London	347	334	0	0
Cleveland	609	585	22	24
Cumbria	451	462	21	19
Derbyshire	723	802	50	52
Devon and Cornwall	1,159	1,224	114	117
Dorset	615	691	61	46
Durham	583	551	22	21
Dyfed-Powys	322	346	20	16
Essex	1,199	1,260	136	123
Gloucestershire	435	451	33	35
Greater Manchester	2,612	2,616	208	172
Gwent	452	491	34	32
Hampshire	1,316	1,381	77	72
Hertfordshire	818	827	72	49
Humberside	718	797	60	58
Kent	1,384	1,502	58	36
Lancashire	1,126	1,242	115	109
Leicestershire	755	766	79	75
Lincolnshire	521	524	24	25
Merseyside	1,343	1,453	132	105
Metropolitan Police	13,493	12,033	1,383	1,062
Norfolk	603	641	43	42
Northamptonshire	554	608	25	24
Northumbria	1,365	1,430	112	73
North Wales	476	489	18	15
North Yorkshire	520	535	26	27
Nottinghamshire	1,003	995	68	57
South Wales	1,206	1,149	106	105
South Yorkshire	1,291	1,254	80	82
Staffordshire	763	878	37	31
Suffolk	522	595	33	33
Surrey	727	734	30	25
Sussex	1,149	1,216	140	133
Thames Valley	1,825	1,827	117	101
Warwickshire	376	403	12	9
West Mercia	942	979	38	30
West Midlands	2,739	2,605	210	204
West Yorkshire	2,234	2,281	136	123
Wiltshire	475	542	21	17
NCS	n/a	306	0	0
NCIS	n/a	265	0	0
Total strength	53,011	53,370	4,181	3,570

(12) Figures rounded to the nearest full-time equivalent

(13) Staff seconded to National Crime Squad (NCS) and National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) are not separately identified but are included in the force figures

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Crime (Costs)

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the annual total cost of crime in each region of England and Wales, and in total in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [75338]

Mr. Boateng: No single measure of the total cost of crime currently exists for England and Wales. But within the context of the crime reduction programme, the Home Office is currently working to develop an estimate of the cost of crime, including the full costs to the victim.

Outside Consultants

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of times since 1 May 1997 that his Department has employed outside consultants indicating in each case (a) the task and (b) the cost of the contract. [75449]

Mr. Straw: Information on the number of times since 1 May 1997 that the Department has employed outside consultants, the tasks they undertook and the cost of each contract is not recorded centrally and could be obtained at short notice only at disproportionate cost.

However, a planned exercise will take place in April this year to gather information on the Department's use of consultants and it is expected that the data will be available during May. I will place this information in the Library when it is available, and will write to the hon. Member at the same time.

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