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Brixton Prison

Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to market-test Brixton prison. [130212]

Mr. Boateng: Last November, I announced in the wake of serious concern about conditions at Brixton prison, that it must be regarded as a failing institution and that there must be rapid and fundamental improvement. I made it clear that unless big improvements were made quickly, Brixton could be subject to market testing. It is now over eight months since then, and progress at the prison has been kept under close review.

I am not satisfied with the rate of progress being made, nor that the necessary improvements will be in place within 12 months. In particular, there has not been adequate improvement in compliance with standards, the quality of regime remains poor, there are serious concerns about commitment to equal opportunities within the prison, costs remain high, and there is a lack of commitment to changes to free up resources to improve the regime. This judgment, accepted by the Director General, has been confirmed in a recent visit by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons, who found that although certain improvements have been made in many areas, basic conditions, including cleanliness in the health care centre, were still unacceptable.

I have, therefore, reviewed the position and am clear that I would be failing in my public duty to all those at the prison--staff and prisoners alike--if we did not set a new path for the establishment. The Director General agrees with me that there should be a market test of Brixton prison. The new management team will be responsible for quickening the pace of improvement and for putting together an in-house bid, which will be judged alongside bids which will be invited from private sector operators.

Police Forces (Expenditure)

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the expenditure was (a) in total and (b) per head of population (i) in each police force in Great Britain and (ii) in total in (1) 1979, (2) 1987 and (3) each year since 1992; and what was the real terms change for each year. [126229]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 19 June 2000]: Tables showing the information for England and Wales have been placed in the Library. Net revenue expenditure figures are in cash terms and are taken from the Chartered

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Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Police Statistics. The percentage changes are in real terms (1998-99:100). Final data for 1999-2000 are not yet available.

Departmental Fees

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Mr. Taylor) of 27 January 2000, Official Report, column 229-30W, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the increase in revenues attributable to the subject access under the Data Protection Act 1998 relates to changes in the practice of enforced subject access; if he will introduce legislation to modify section 75(4) of the Data Protection Act 1998 thereby making enforced subject access an offence as soon as the Criminal Record Certificate and Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate are available; and if he will make a statement. [129185]

Mr. Straw: It is not possible to say what proportion of subject access requests made to police records are enforced. We have no plans to amend section 75(4) of the Data Protection Act 1998. Criminal Convictions

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Certificates also need to be available before enforced subject access can be made an offence. The target date for making those Certificates available is July 2002.

Ministerial Code

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times Ministers in his Department have sought the advice of the Permanent Secretary under the circumstances envisaged in Paragraphs 118, 121 and 123 of the Ministerial Code; and on which occasions such advice was sought. [129174]

Mr. Straw: Information relating to internal advice and consultation is not disclosed under Exemption II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

PFI Contracts

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the PFI contracts entered into by his Department, indicating (a) their dates of commencement, (b) their value, (c) if they have been subject to refinancing and (d) if his Department has a claw-back entitlement to share in savings arising from refinancing. [129051]

Mr. Straw: The latest information available to us is as follows:

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Project nameDate of commencementCapital value (£ million)Subject to refinancing?Claw-back entitlement?
Immigration and Detention Caseworking Programme (IT programme)April 199641NoNo
Medway Secure Training Centre3 March 199710NoNo
Rainsbrook (Onley) Secure Training Centre3 July 199810NoNo
Hassockfield (Medomsly) Secure Training Centre12 November 199810YesNo
Park Prison4 January 199674NoNo
Fazakerley Prison20 December 199588Yes(9)No
Ashfield Prison26 June 199830.7NoNo
Forest Bank Prison2 July 199838.6NoNo
Ryehill (Onley) Prison22 July 199934.7NoNo
Dovegate (Marchington) Prison24 September 199948NoNo
Lowdham Grange7 November 199632NoNo
Prisons/Energy Tranche 1 Boilerhouses19979NoNo
QuantumFebruary 200030NoNo
Public Safety Radio Communications Project (PSRCP)29 February 2000500NoNo
Passport, Data capture and Supply and PersonalisationJuly 199730NoNo

(9) But have negotiated benefits


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Communications Data

Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce an amendment to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill to prohibit the subsequent disclosure of communications data which have legitimately been obtained under the powers granted by the Bill, by virtue of the application of the non-disclosure provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 or by the application of powers in other legislation which could result in statutory demands for communications data; and if he will make a statement. [129210]

Mr. Straw: We do not consider it necessary to amend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill further as my hon. Friend suggests. The law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies are already subject to restrictions on the degree to which they may share data by the terms

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of the Data Protection Act 1998 or under the statutory restrictions placed on them by the Security Service Act 1989 and the Intelligence Services Act 1994.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill substantially enhances the existing safeguards which surround the obtaining of communications data by placing on a statutory basis proper levels of authorisation, considerations of necessity and proportionality and independent oversight by the Interception Commissioner.

Home Detention Curfews

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners convicted of robbery were released on the Home Detention Curfew scheme on (a) 19, (b) 20, (c) 21, (d) 22 and (e) 23 June; and what was the sentence (i) received and (ii) served in each case. [128920]

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Mr. Boateng [holding answer 4 July 2000]: Fourteen prisoners convicted of robbery were placed on the Home Detention Curfew scheme on the dates in question. The breakdown of their release dates, and of the sentence received and served in each case, is given in the table.

(days)
Date releasedNumber releasedSentence receivedSentence served
19 June61,096529
1,096512
1,096490
915401
455192
27581
20 June21,096489
640263
21 June41,096524
1,096489
1,096489
731307
22 June0----
23 June21,280581
366170

Prisons (Visitor Centres)

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons have a staffed visitors' centre; and of these how many are funded by the prison. [129199]

Mr. Boateng: In 1993, when prison establishments were last surveyed, there were 81 visitors' centres. We estimate that about 90 Prison Service establishments now have a visitors' centre. Many of these receive funding from the establishment, although exact figures are not available. We are obtaining more precise information in a further survey as part of a review of visits policy.

Prison Strip Searches

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visitors to each prison were strip searched in (a) 1998, (b) 1999 and (c) 2000 to date. [129195]

Mr. Boateng: The number of strip searches carried out on visitors to prisons each year is not recorded. Visitors are strip searched only when there is reasonable cause to suspect that they are carrying a firearm or a controlled drug, and a full rub down search has failed to reveal the item.


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