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Usk/Prescoed Prison and YOI

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement about the award of Investors in People to HM Prison Usk and Young Offender Institute Prescoed; [139266]

(2) if he will make a statement on the report of HM Inspector of Prisons into HM Prison Usk and Young Offender Institute Prescoed; [139263]

(3) if he will make a statement about the award of Charter Mark to HM Prison Usk and Youth Offender Institute Prescoed. [139265]

Mr. Boateng: I am delighted to congratulate the Governor and staff of Usk/Prescoed prison and young offender institution on their achievements.

The establishment is a complex one, comprising a category C closed prison holding mainly adult male prisoners following the Sex Offender Treatment Programme; a category D open prison holding male adults and young offenders; and a farm providing employment for adult and young prisoners.

Usk/Prescoed was one of the first prison establishments to obtain Investors in People accreditation, in October 1997, since when it has been re-accredited twice, most recently in January 2000. This accreditation testifies to consistently good management practice throughout the establishment.

A Charter Mark for good public service was awarded to Usk/Prescoed in February 2000. While a number of Charter Marks have been awarded to prison establishments, the award covering the whole range of services in this diverse establishment is particularly creditable.

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Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons inspected Usk/Prescoed on 13-17 March 2000 and published his report on 15 August. The report commended the Governor and staff for their good work in the treatment of and conditions for prisoners. The report made 99 recommendations and identified 15 examples of good practice. An action plan addressing the recommendations has been drawn up and is being implemented. In line with the usual practice following an inspection report, it will be formally updated nine and 15 months after publication.

Usk Prison

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the sex offender treatment programme at HM Prison Usk. [139264]

Mr. Boateng: The Prison Service seeks to ensure that its offending behaviour programmes are effective by designing them in line with extensive research on what works in preventing re-offending, and by inviting an independent panel, established for the purpose, to accredit them as conforming to the lessons drawn from that research. The Sex Offender Treatment Programmes run at Usk are so accredited.

All prisons offering the Prison Service's Sex Offender Treatment Programme are audited annually on the effectiveness of their delivery, because research suggests that effective delivery is a crucial factor in reducing reconvictions. Usk prison and six other establishments were awarded a score of 95 out of 100 in the 1999-2000 audit, the highest achieved among the 23 establishments running the programme. This reflects the consistently high quality treatment delivered by a well motivated team at Usk.

The Prison Service monitors against control groups the reconviction data on those who have undergone such programmes. More data, however, are needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about the overall effectiveness of Sex Offender Treatment Programmes, such as those run at Usk.

Guns

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what state-sponsored training is available on the use of guns to the holders of guns in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [139406]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Apart from any military training offered by the Ministry of Defence, for example for the Territorial Army and other reserve forces and for Cadet forces, the Government do not generally sponsor training for gun owners. The safe and responsible use of firearms by private individuals is a matter for the individual concerned who must satisfy the local police that he or she is fit to be entrusted with a firearms and can be permitted to possess it without danger to the public safety or the peace.

There are a number of means by which a private individual in the United Kingdom may obtain training in the handling and use of firearms which may involve some degree of Government endorsement or support. For example, 113 target shooting clubs based in schools in England and Wales are approved by the Home Office, some of which may be in publicly funded schools and

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offer shooting sports as part of the wider sporting curriculum. Similarly, there are 1,314 target shooting clubs in England and Wales which are approved but not funded by the Home Office, although some may receive Sports Council grants.

Training for veterinary surgeons will usually involve training in the humane destruction of injured animals, and courses run by agricultural colleges in gamekeepering may also involve training in the safe handling and use of firearms.

Although not state sponsored, shooting organisations such as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have sought to provide training to those who may wish to use guns for game or target shooting. The Government welcome these measures to encourage those taking part in shooting sports to do so safely and responsibly.

Correspondence

Mrs. Roe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Broxbourne dated 24 July, 24 August, 21 September, 19 October and 16 November in connection with Mrs. C. W. Myford. [139528]

Mr. Straw: I apologise for the delay in dealing with the letters from the hon. Member in connection with Mrs. C. W. Myford and I am very sorry that she has not had an earlier response. A reply has now been sent. The delay was caused by a recent and very regrettable failure of our normal procedures in dealing with correspondence, which has now been put right. I do not regard such delays as acceptable.

Police (Complaints)

Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints there were against the police for (a) racial harassment and (b) abuse by police authority in the last 20 years. [139601]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Information is not available in precisely the form requested. Data collected centrally on a financial year basis include complaints of racial discrimination and complaints of oppressive behaviour by the police. Data for completed complaints are available from 1992. Prior to 1992, available figures do not include the Metropolitan police service.

The information from 1992 is shown in the table:

	Completed complaints of:
Year	Racially discriminatory behaviour	Oppressive behaviour
1992	461	16,559
1993	450	16,474
1994	608	16,666
1995-96	620	16,850
1996-97	634	17,320
1997-98	566	16,599
1998-99	575	14,457
1999-2000	895	13,014

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Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reported cases of drunkenness there were in each police authority in the past 10 years. [139600]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The number of cases of drunkenness reported to the police are not collected centrally.

Available information held centrally showing the number of offenders cautioned or found guilty of offences of drunkenness is given in the table.

Due to disproportionate costs, selected years only are given.

Number of 'known offenders'⁽⁷⁾ for offences of drunkenness by police force area 1990, 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999

Police force area	1990	1994	1997	1998	1999
Avon and Somerset	623	204	361	481	542
Bedfordshire	237	347	355	489	374
Cambridgeshire	301	433	222	192	196
Cheshire	647	761	919	1,063	929
City of London	260	170	123	21	30
Cleveland	709	1,084	2,075	1,372	1,167
Cumbria	760	504	1,007	1,036	1,010
Derbyshire	577	165	387	372	327
Devon and Cornwall	1,387	1,268	1,769	1,557	1,485
Dorset	700	264	274	405	348
Durham	445	226	418	527	557
Essex	465	571	1,028	887	800
Gloucestershire	148	101	175	266	185
Greater Manchester	3,099	2,546	2,278	2,316	1,903
Hampshire	2,008	1,365	1,836	1,954	1,849
Hertfordshire	249	132	493	643	646
Humberside	500	234	345	298	324
Kent	577	741	963	1,167	1,412
Lancashire	1,547	1,523	2,870	2,806	3,038
Leicestershire	128	116	115	83	82
Lincolnshire	342	55	692	831	770
Merseyside	5,864	6,356	8,064	8,602	6,567
Metropolitan police	40,823	19,024	2,412	1,940	1,946
Norfolk	312	203	266	224	191
Northamptonshire	426	424	279	293	260
Northumbria	4,256	4,072	7,113	6,417	6,392
North Yorkshire	386	264	410	456	492
Nottinghamshire	510	351	545	529	543
South Yorkshire	3,233	1,648	1,877	1,704	1,909
Staffordshire	905	494	599	547	388
Suffolk	336	428	719	547	505
Surrey	177	191	245	401	565
Sussex	715	1,126	1,069	1,043	834
Thames Valley	1,987	1,443	1,350	1,435	1,252
Warwickshire	60	78	259	387	260
West Mercia	835	984	1,334	1,106	967
West Midlands	1,802	2,330	1,570	1,186	670
West Yorkshire	2,673	1,419	1,946	2,400	2,406
Wiltshire	498	673	686	770	598
Dyfed-Powys	307	249	382	420	340
Gwent	1,347	1,061	1,234	953	878
North Wales	685	788	980	1,277	1,278
South Wales	2,549	1,474	2,431	2,184	1,805
England and Wales	86,395	57,890	54,475	53,587	49,020

⁽⁷⁾ Those cautioned or convicted at all courts.

Note:

Changes in the number of persons cautioned or found guilty for drunkenness offences including the variations between police force areas are likely to reflect changes or variations in police practice, as well as actual changes or variations in the level of drunkenness. To a large extent, they reflect changes in the Metropolitan police, which has fallen from 47 per cent. in 1990 to 4 per cent. in 1999 of the total England and Wales 'known offenders'. In 1995 the Metropolitan police introduced informal warnings for offences of drunkenness.

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