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Cowboy Builders

Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what projects his Department is supporting connected with the First Check Point organisation to combat incompetent and dishonest builders. [135138]

Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 October 2000, Official Report, columns 216-17W.

Correspondence

Sir Brian Mawhinney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the right hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire will receive a reply to his letter of 1 September on behalf of his constituent Miss Merchant. [135788]

Mrs. Roche: I replied to the right hon. Member on 25 October.

Police Recruitment

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to offer increased remuneration to attract new recruits to those police forces which have been unable to meet their recruitment targets. [134451]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Police Negotiating Board is the body which, under the Police Act 1996, makes recommendations to me on issues relating to the pay and allowances of police officers.

The Metropolitan Police Service has been having particular recruitment difficulties. Following the recommendation of the Police Negotiating Board, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced to the House on 23 June 2000, Official Report, column 562, an increase of £3,327 in the London Allowance of all officers

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in the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police who joined on or after 1 September 1994 and receive no housing allowance.

I understand that the Police Negotiating Board is currently looking at the recruitment and retention situation in other forces and that it is also setting up a working party to examine the remuneration of the federated ranks with the objective of ensuring a cohesive national pay structure which meets the current and future needs of the police service. I will take into consideration any recommendation from the PNB.

Police Officers (Overtime Payments)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans to reform police overtime payments. [134525]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the right hon. member for Maidstone and the Weald (Miss Widdecombe) on 26 October 2000, Official Report, column 217-18W.

Vacant Prison Land, Wandsworth

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has for bringing into use the vacant prison land opposite Wandsworth Prison in Heathfield Road, Wandsworth, London SW18; and if he will make a statement. [134815]

Mr. Boateng: There is a plot of vacant land in front of Wandsworth prison known as Dobbin's field. The Prison Service is currently discussing with the local planning authority, Wandsworth Borough Council, the possibility of the area becoming a public open space to form an extension to Wandsworth Common, as part of a proposal to develop Prison Service owned land at the rear of the prison for residential development.

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Prisoners (Staffordshire Residents)

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many South Staffordshire Health District residents are currently serving sentences of imprisonment in the UK; in which prisons they are held; and how many are in each; [134405]

(2) how many residents of Stafford constituency are prisoners in the UK; [134393]

(3) what proportion of prisoners of HM Prison Stafford are residents of Stafford constituency. [134392]

Mr. Boateng: No information is available centrally regarding the principal address of those committed to custody in England and Wales. HMP Stafford however has indicated that at present less than five per cent. of their current population come from the Stafford constituency.

Prisons (Suicide and Self-harm)

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what conclusions he has made based on the trends in the incidence of suicide and self-harm in prisons in England in the last five years. [134386]

Mr. Boateng: The number of self-inflicted deaths in prison in England and Wales has risen in the last five years from 64 in 1996 to 91 in 1999 (116 and 91 per 100,000 respectively). The current figure for this year is 72. Total incidents of self-harm have risen from 6,670 in 1995-96 to 7,397 in 1998-99.

The majority of these deaths occurred in local prisons among prisoners who are unsentenced and within the first two months in custody. Other particularly vulnerable groups of prisoners are those who have previously suffered from mental health problems or from drug/ alcohol abuse.

The number of self-inflicted deaths among women prisoners and young offenders are relatively low, but are rising this year. Rates of self-harm among women and young offenders are higher than adult male prisoners. Many of those who self-harm experienced similar problems to those who took their own lives.

These trends reinforce the need to give a high priority to measures to combat the incidence of suicide and self-harm. The Prison Service is reviewing its suicide/ self-harm prevention strategy and will report to Ministers shortly.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Creative and Cultural Education

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress he has made towards implementing the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education; and if he will make a statement. [134613]

Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 26 October 2000]: My Department, in close collaboration with the Department for Education and Employment, has made significant progress in implementing the commitments given in the Government's response to the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education

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report which was published in January. We published an update of this progress in September, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House. It is also available on our website at www.culture.gov.uk. Since then the DfEE have also confirmed that Government funding for music will increase to £60 million a year from 2001-02, and that level of funding will be sustained until at least 2003-04, ensuring that every LEA in the country offers children the chance to learn to play musical instruments.

Free Television Licences

Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will report progress on applications for free television licences for people aged 75 years and over and the timetable for issuing licences and refunds. [135912]

Janet Anderson: On the progress of applications, the British Broadcasting Corporation has reported that, by 20 October 2000, TV Licensing had received 3 million applications for free licences. Of these, 220,000 are not yet eligible. All the complete, and accurate, applications made before the 1 October 2000 closing date will result in a licence being issued by early November. People aged 75 or over who are currently beneficiaries of the £5 Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) licence will receive a free licence when their "scheme" television licence next falls to be renewed.

Of the 2.78 million applications being processed:

2.35 million have been completely processed and accepted as eligible for a free licence.

200,000 people have yet to return requests for additional information regarding their application. Provided the information is returned, the application will be processed and, if eligible, a licence will be issued.

170,000 people have recently returned additional information or made a new application, and the information is still being processed. These will be processed by 1 November 2000.

50,000 people have either been unable to provide a National Insurance number, or the BBC has been unable to verify their information against data provided by the Department of Social Security after a second check. These people have been sent a form to take to their Post Office with proof of their age, after which they will be issued with a free licence, if eligible. Each applicant will be issued a receipt by the Post Office as evidence of their application in the period before they receive a free licence. Where people are unable to prove their age at the Post Office, they will be able to show secondary, alternative evidence to TV Licensing, whose officers will visit the applicant at home if necessary.

11,000 people have been recorded as deceased since making their application.

Applicants who have been asked for further information have been urged to respond quickly, as TV Licensing is unable to proceed further without a reply. Applications which raise problems, such as illegible contact information and current television licences having been cancelled since applying, will be processed as quickly as possible, though this may take until the middle or end of November. The BBC estimates these are about 2 per cent. of the total so far received.

New applications are continuing to be made to the BBC. Accurate and complete applications received between 1 and 31 October 2000 will result in a licence being issued by the

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end of November. Similarly, applications received between 1 and 30 November 2000 will result in a licence being issued at the end of December.

On the timetable for issuing licences and refunds, the BBC has said that the mailing of the free licences, and any refunds associated with unused portions of a previous licence, started on 23 October 2000. In order to manage the response to the licence mailing, which inevitably includes people telephoning TV Licensing with queries and changes of address, the licences are being mailed in the following volumes:

100,000 on 23 October 2000.

300,000 a day each working day and Saturday after that, until the main volume has been completed.

Daily dependent on volumes thereafter until mid-November.

As required after mid-November.

The licences are being sent out using Mailsort 2 (the equivalent of 2nd class post) with Royal Mail, and so will arrive with the applicant between two and four days after posting. The majority of licences will, therefore, reach applicants between 25 October and 6 November 2000. The number of licences still to be sent in November could be as high as 430,000 depending on the level, timeliness and accuracy of the responses from applicants. These will be sent out at an even rate through the remainder of the month.

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