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Telephone Steering Systems

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many agencies of his Department use touch tone telephone steering systems when dealing with telephone inquiries from the general public. [129638]

Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 27 June 2000, Official Report, column 466W. In addition, most of Her Majesty's prisons and some of the smaller offices of the other agencies of my Department have an "automated attendant" facility. This enables the caller to use the telephone keypad to select the required extension, where direct dialling-in to the extension is not available, or to speak to an operator. No central records of these facilities are kept.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's telephone lines used by the general public are responded to by touch tone telephone steering systems. [129620]

Mr. Straw: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave him on 27 June 2000, Official Report, column 467W. In addition, some of the smaller offices in my Department have an "automated attendant" facility. This enables the caller to use the telephone keypad to select the required extension, where direct dialling-in to the extension is not available, or to speak to an operator. No central records of these facilities are kept.

Prison Ships

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison ships are in use in the UK; and how many inmates were held on these ships on 1 July. [129455]

Mr. Boateng: The Prison Service for England and Wales currently has one floating facility, Weare prison, moored in Portland harbour, Dorset.

On 1 July, 359 adult males were held by the prison, the certified normal accommodation for which is 400.

Humberside Police Force

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the additional 5,000 police he recently announced are serving in the Humberside police force. [129609]

Mr. Straw: The Crime Fighting Fund will allow police forces in England and Wales to recruit 5,000 officers over and above the number they had otherwise planned to recruit: 3,000 in 2000-01 and 2,000 in 2001-02.

Humberside have been allocated 74 additional recruits from the Crime Fighting Fund: 47 in 2000-01 and 27 in 2001-02. Nineteen of the Crime Fighting Fund recruits for 2000-01 have been recruited so far and are presently serving in Humberside police.

Child Detainees

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list each institution which has received children under a detention and training order since the introduction of such orders. [129701]

10 Jul 2000 : Column: 434W

Mr. Boateng: The Detention and Training Order may be served in a number of different types of institution: young offender institutions; secure training centres; and places in local authority secure units. Generally, in the case of boys, those who are aged 15 to 17 will serve their sentence in a young offender institution, and those aged 12 to 14 in secure training centres or local authority secure units, except where individual assessment recommends otherwise. This reflects the Youth Justice Board's placement strategy, a copy of which is in the Library.

Placements of boys aged 15 to 17 to a young offender institution should be made to those comprising the new distinct estate for boys: Ashfield; Brinsford; Castington; Feltham; Hollesley Bay; Huntercombe; Lancaster Farms; Onley; Portland; Stoke Heath; Thorn Cross; Werrington; and Wetherby. The new estate comprises juvenile-only establishments and juvenile units in young offender institutions.

The Government have decided that young women aged 15 to 16 should be placed in non-Prison Service accommodation, as should those aged 17 years, as spaces become available. In the interim, 17-year-olds on remand will continue to share facilities with adults due to their small numbers, and those who are sentenced with other young women under 21 in enhanced young offender units in womens' prisons at: Brockhill; Bullwood Hall; Drake Hall; Eastwood Park; Holloway; Low Newton; New Hall and Styal.

Community Safety Partnerships

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) organisations, (b) individuals and (c) projects have benefited from his Department's expenditure on community safety partnerships in (i) 1999-2000 and (ii) 2000-01. [129527]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires local authorities and police jointly to develop and implement strategies to reduce crime in their area. The main additional source of Home Office funding for partnerships is the Crime Reduction Programme, details of which are contained in the reply my hon. Friend the Minister of State, gave on 7 July 2000, Official Report, columns 359-60W. The Home Office also has in place a programme of research, consultancy support, training and seminars to help partnerships achieve real reductions in crime and disorder.

Grants

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations and individuals received grants and payments in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 for services in support of the work of (i) the Probation Service and (ii) local authority social services departments; and how much money was paid in each such grant. [129521]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: Information relating to organisations and individuals receiving grants and payments in support of the work of the Probation Service is not available for 1999-2000 or 2000-01. I will write to the hon. Member with details of the figures for 1998-99 and place a copy of the

10 Jul 2000 : Column: 435W

information in the Library. The matter of payments to local social services is one for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security.

National Association for the Care and

Resettlement of Offenders

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy objective of his Department's annual payment to the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. [129528]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The Home Office funds the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) in pursuit of Home Office objectives in the prevention of crime, the resettlement of offenders, the prevention of reoffending, the delivery of justice fairly and equally to all and the promotion of the confidence of all communities in the criminal justice system. This includes projects in crime prevention, research and evaluation, offender employment and housing. NACRO also pursues work for the Prison Service in areas of resettlement, race and women's issues.

Reoffenders

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reoffending rates following participation in an accredited programme run by the probation service in England and Wales were in each of the last three years; what were the reoffending rates for those sentenced to a probation order in the same period; and if he will make a statement. [129316]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The Joint Prison Probation Accreditation Panel first met to consider applications in December last year. To date the Panel has granted provisional accreditation to one community-based offender programme. It is likely that a further seven offending behaviour programmes will be considered for accreditation when the Panel next meets in September. There are no reconviction or reoffending rates available from the programme, as it has not been running long enough to provide the necessary data. Arrangements are in place for the evaluation of the programmes.

The reconviction rates of those offenders sentenced to a probation order in the last three years--available data are: 59 per cent. for 1994, and 60 per cent. for 1995 and 1996.

The work of the Accreditation Panel will promote the use of evidence-based practice, which the probation service is working towards.

Voluntary Sector Funding

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations were paid grants in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 (i) to assist work in support of the voluntary sector, (ii) to promote voluntary activity and community development and (iii) to support innovative projects; and how much money was paid in each such grant. [129526]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The information covers grant programmes whose primary purposes are to promote voluntary activity and community development and to assist work, including innovative projects, in support of the voluntary sector. Some

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organisations receive grants for different purposes and those amounts are shown separately. The tables have been placed in the Library.

Prisoner Repatriation

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign prisoners serving sentences in England and Wales were repatriated in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [129313]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The information requested is given in the table:

	Number
1997	17
1998	42
1999	22

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British nationals who were sentenced abroad were repatriated to serve out their sentences in England and Wales in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement. [129314]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The information requested is given in the table:

	Number
1997	34
1998	27
1999	11

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications were made in each of the past three years for repatriation for foreign prisoners in England and Wales; how many of those applications were (a) refused and (b) discontinued; and if he will make a statement. [129315]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 7 July 2000]: The information requested is given in the table:

	1997	1998	1999
Applications	127	157	193
Refused	36	49	45
Discontinued	38	34	16

Applications refused or discontinued may not have been submitted in the year they were determined.

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