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Short Tariff Prisoners
Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change (a) Prison Service and (b) Parole Board procedures to ensure that prisoners with short tariffs are not unnecessarily held beyond expiry of the tariff. [86375]
Mr. George Howarth: None. Short tariff life sentence prisoners are, with rare exceptions, those whose tariffs (relevant parts) have been set by the courts. Such prisoners are statutorily entitled to an oral hearing of their case by the Parole Board once the relevant part of the sentence has expired. The Board may direct the prisoner's release following such hearings if they are satisfied that the level of risk is acceptable. No change is, therefore, necessary to Parole Board procedures.
The Prison Service has set up an 86-bed main centre at Brixton prison to provide fast-track arrangements for life sentence prisoners with short tariffs. The aim is to provide expedited reports on such prisoners so that they may be allocated at an early stage to other prisons which can offer any necessary course work on offending behaviour. This should enable such work to be completed in time for the outcome to be reported to the Parole Board for the oral hearing on tariff expiry.
Experimental Psychiatric Research
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a list of the papers which his Department holds in connection with experimental psychiatric research on delinquent youths at (a) the Burden Neurological Institute in Bristol, (b) Star Cross Hospital, Newton Abbott and (c) other institutions during the 1970s. [86460]
Mr. Boateng: I and my Department of Health colleagues need to find out whether there are records of any such research. We will write to the hon. Member once we have been able to establish the position.
Visas
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the system of handling visa applications of family members of refugees residing in the UK. [86842]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There are no such plans.
However, in response to the crisis in Kosovo, special arrangements have been made to facilitate family reunion for Kosovans who have been evacuated from Macedonia under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. Arrangements have also been made to send a Home Office team to Macedonia to assist the UNHCR in the registration of refugees and selection for evacuation to the United Kingdom. A further Home Office team is going to Tirana to process applications from family members notified to the Red Cross by their families in the United Kingdom. This is to assist the British diplomatic post in Tirana which is not resourced to provide a full visa service.
Police Officer Dismissal
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish his reasons for
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overturning the Devon and Cornwall Chief Constable's decision to dismiss police officers Wayne Burns and Andy May. [86412]
Mr. Straw
[holding answer 11 June 1999]: Wayne Burns and Andy May appealed to me against decisions by the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall in January 1998 to find them guilty of disciplinary offences and dismiss them from the force. I appointed an independent tribunal to consider the appeal and to make recommendations to me. The tribunal reheard the evidence and unanimously recommended that the appeals should be allowed.
I considered all the facts of the case, the points raised in the grounds of appeal and the Chief Constable's response, together with the report of the tribunal. I decided to accept the tribunal's reasons and their recommendation to allow the appeals. The reason for my decision was that I was not satisfied that the charges had been proved to the criminal standard of proof which was the standard required at the relevant time. The standard of proof required in police discipline proceedings has now been lowered from the criminal standard to the civil standard but only in respect of alleged police misconduct occurring after 1 April 1999.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fatalities have occurred in police custody units in each of the past 10 years. [86978]
Mr. Boateng:
Deaths in police custody units are included in the statistics for deaths in police custody or otherwise in the hands of the police. During the period from 1991-92 to 1994-95, such deaths were tabulated on a financial year basis for the Metropolitan Police and a calendar year basis for the rest of England and Wales, with the result that no national annual totals are available for that period. The figures for the last 10 years are as follows:
| Year | Metropolitan police | Year | Provinces | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 37 | 1989 | 36 | 73 |
| 1990 | 20 | 1990 | 41 | 61 |
| 1991 | 24 | 1991 | 36 | 60 |
| 1991-92(2) | 21 | 1992 | 33 | -- |
| 1992-93 | 18 | 1993 | 18 | -- |
| 1993-94 | 16 | 1994 | 36 | -- |
| 1994-95 | 15 | 1995 | 39 | -- |
| 1995-96 | 13 | 1995-96 | 37 | 50 |
| 1996-97 | 18 | (3) | 39 | 57 |
| 1997-98 | 12 | 1996-97 | 57 | 69 |
| 1998-99(4) | 17 | 1997-98 | 49 | 66 |
| 1998-99 |
(2) Change to financial year basis includes some figures previously counted in 1991
(3) Change to financial year basis includes some figures previously counted in 1995
(4) Provisional figures
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what level of supervision is required in police custody units. [86979]
Mr. Boateng:
Section 36 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provides that one or more custody officers shall be appointed for each designated police station. No officer may be appointed a custody officer
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unless he is of at least the rank of sergeant. An officer of any rank may perform the functions of a custody officer at a designated police station if a custody officer is not readily available to perform them.
Guidance on the interpretation of "readily available" was given in the report of the Steering Group on Custody Officers which was circulated to Chief Officers and to Police Authorities in July 1993.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the statutory provisions which apply to police custody units. [86977]
Mr. Boateng:
The principal statutory provisions relating to police custody units are contained in Part IV of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Mr. Gill:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance he has issued concerning the centralisation of police custody units. [86976]
Mr. Boateng:
In July 1993, the Home Office circulated to Chief Officers and to Police Authorities the report of the Steering Group on Custody Officers, which included the recommendation that each chief officer who had not already done so should review the provision of designated stations with a view to rationalising custody facilities.
Angela Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, following the changed circumstances, any more refugees from Kosovo will be evacuated from the region to the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [87354]
Mr. Straw:
The Government's aim, in common with that of our European Union partners, has been to ensure that the great majority of refugees are looked after in the region so that they are able to return to their homes when it is safe to do so. We have also responded to the request for help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to evacuate the most vulnerable people from the area. We accordingly accepted around 4,000 refugees into the United Kingdom. The stage now reached in the military action against the Milosevic regime and the fact that the first steps have been taken to allow the refugees to return mean that significant evacuations under the Humanitarian Evacuation Programmes are no longer necessary.
We have, therefore, decided to reduce significantly the number of flights into the United Kingdom. After today, we expect to receive a further flight this week and one next week. We will, then, keep the situation under review. We will focus on people who cannot be cared for in the region and on the spouses and dependants of people who are already in the United Kingdom.
Those refugees arriving under the Programme who have been granted 12 months leave to enter will not have their stay curtailed. We will, however, actively be establishing arrangements to facilitate the return of those who want to go back to Kosovo before then.
Consideration of claims for asylum for citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) will be suspended temporarily while the security situation in Kosovo is clarified. Consideration of applications will resume as soon as practicable. Nobody will be sent back to Kosovo until we are satisfied that it is safe for them to go. We
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propose for the time being to grant 12 months leave to enter or remain to Kosovan Albanians on an exceptional basis. This will provide for the same status and access to benefits as between those FRY citizens who have arrived as part of the UNHCR's Humanitarian Evacuation Programme and those who have arrived independently once their cases are decided.
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