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HM Chief Inspector of Probation

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who has been appointed as the next HM Chief Inspector of Probation; and if he will make a statement. [160597]

Mr. Straw: Recruitment for the post of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation has been run under Commissioner for Public Appointments guidelines following advertisements in the national press. The choice of candidates has been guided by an advisory panel including two independent assessors. As we announced on 6 April 2001, Official Report, column 357W, these were Baroness Stern, former Director of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders and now Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Prison Studies, and Lord Laming, former Chief Inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate.

From the candidates selected by the advisory panel, I have decided to appoint Professor Rodney Morgan as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation. Professor Morgan is Director of the Centre of Criminology, Criminal Justice Faculty of Law at Bristol University and a member of the Parole Board.

I am delighted that Professor Morgan has accepted this appointment, which will take effect from 1 August 2001. Through their expertise and rigour of approach the probation inspectorate has provided a major contribution to building a National Probation Service capable of providing the highest standards of service. I am confident that Professor Morgan will continue that tradition.

Senator Pinochet

Ms Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost to public funds was of the extradition case of Senator Pinochet. [160723]

Mr. Straw: Four countries (Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland) sought Senator Pinochet's extradition under the European Convention on Extradition. The final and total cost to public funds of handling these requests was £3,857,108.58. The breakdown of this is as follows:

Costs Incurred by the Home Office: £670,588.82

Treasury Solicitor's fees: £63,150.000 ¹

Disbursements (mainly Counsel's fees): £292,385.93 ¹

Costs of the Kingdom of Belgium and Amnesty International: £155,081.68

Costs of Medical Examination on 5 January 2000: £11,751.25

Responding to public correspondence (this covers staff costs where letters were handled in house and Central Office of Information fees where letters were contracted out): £10,941.05

8 May 2001 : Column: 75W

Staff Costs (estimated): £165,778.91

¹ Of these two amounts £28,500.00 was recovered from Senator Pinochet under costs orders made against Senator Pinochet by the High Court.

Costs Incurred by the Crown Prosecution Service: £676,691.00

Counsel's fees: £425,077.00

Staff Costs (estimated): £137,055.00

Other Costs (interpreters, travel and subsistence and photocopying): £114,559.00

Costs Incurred by the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers: £60,000.00

Staff Costs (estimated): £60,000.00

Costs Incurred by the Lord Chancellor's Department: £1,209,775.05

The Law Lords ordered that Senator Pincohet's costs should be met from Central Funds for the first two hearings before the House of Lords in the unusual circumstances of the case. The costs paid from Central Funds were as follows:

for the first hearing in the House of Lords: £270,935.89; and

for the application to set aside the judgment following the first hearing in the House of Lords: £151,361.30

The costs of those Divisional court hearings in which Senator Pinochet was successful or which did not proceed, and the costs of the committal proceedings in Bow Street Magistrates court from 27 September to 1 October 1999, were also order to be paid from Central Funds. The costs of these hearings were £787,477.86.

All these costs were ordered to be paid under Section 16 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, and they fall to be paid out of the Lord Chancellor's Department's portion of central funds.

Senator Pinochet received no legal aid funding in any of the proceedings against him.

Treasury Solicitor's Fees: £100,053.76

Amicus Curiae (costs and disbursements including Counsel's fees): £71,029.00

Other costs and disbursements: £29,024.76

Security Costs: £1,200,000.00

Responsibility for Senator Pinochet's protection and detention were the responsibility of the Metropolitan police. For security reasons, it has long been the practice of successive Governments not to provide information about police operations relating to protection.

The costs incurred by Surrey police relating to general policing and public order matters in relation to Senator Pinochet's residence in Wentworth were £1,200,000.00.

All these figures include Value Added Tax where appropriate.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Criminal Records Bureau will publish its Corporate and Business Plan. [160689]

Mr. Straw: The Criminal Records Bureau Corporate and Business Plan has been published today and a copy of the plan has been placed in the Library.

Prison Service

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the use of the private sector in the Prison Service. [160691]

Mr. Straw: I have asked Pat Carter, a non-executive member of the Strategy Board for Correctional Services, to carry out a review on the future role of the private sector in the prison system.

I will publish his review and the Government's response to it in due course.

8 May 2001 : Column: 76W

European Refugee Fund

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the organisations which successfully bid for 2000 and 2001 reception and integration funding under the European Refugee Fund. [160687]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The successful bidders are:

Reception

Agroforep

Provides skills training to 15 people, supporting 10 children with homework, 20 children/youth in language of country of origin, and providing education and health advice to a minimum of 50 refugees.

Day-Mer Turkish and Kurdish Day Centre

Provides a range of information technology (IT) resources for an estimated 205 Turkish and Kurdish refugees, including an after school club of 8 to 16-year-olds.

Derby City Council

Provides advice work, policy development and individual/group work to build community capacity initiatives for the reception of approximately 520 asylum seekers.

Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT)

Aims to support 38 refugee community organisations in delivering housing and related services to in excess of 6,780 clients.

Leicester City Council

Provides a casework service for 900 refugees in order that they are able to access housing, education, employment and health services.

Refugee Council

Assists clients with particularly complex needs; also unaccompanied minors.

Save the Children (Heathrow)

Provides child-friendly facilities at Heathrow Airport for 192 unaccompanied minors, and recruits, trains and manages a dedicated adviser to work with them.

Somali Advisory Bureau

Assists long-term unemployed Somali refugees and their families by providing counselling, advocacy and advice on employment, training and welfare issues.

Society of Voluntary Associates (SOVA)

Provides health, accommodation and immigration advice to unaccompanied minors and also provides for the recruitment and training of volunteers.

Tamil Relief Centre (TRC)

Provides support and guidance to bridge cultural and language barriers of children, and also English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and basic skill classes for adult refugees. They will also access accommodation, health and welfare advice through existing TRC benefits. Sixty people will benefit from this project.

Integration

Anyadwe Families Association

Provides extra educational support to 250 children of refugees and asylum seekers.

Asphaleia Project

Provides 10 unaccompanied minors with English language support, cultural guidance and work experience in order to better equip them for employment.

Bolton Ethnic Minority Achievement Service

Provides a co-ordinated multi-agency approach to ease the induction of 230 asylum seekers and refugees into Bolton by way of awareness and skill development according to need.

8 May 2001 : Column: 77W

Bournemouth Churches Housing Association

A rent deposit loan scheme, to enable 230 properties to be accessed by refugees/those granted Exceptional Leave to Remain (ELR).

Child Psychotherapy Trust

Provides a therapy service to 20 refugee children and support to their families.

Civic Trust

Produces a handbook on good practice for mental health professionals and refugee community organisations in delivering culturally appropriate mental health service to refugees.

East Lancashire Asylum and Refugee Support

Provides for the training and managing of 20 volunteers to provide a one-stop service for those granted refugee status/ELR.

East London Somali Association

Provides an advocacy/outreach service to enable between 3,000 and 4,000 Somali nationals annually to access services such as education, health and welfare support.

Ethnic Minority Achievement Team, Lambeth

Provides an induction programme to deliver key skills in literacy, numeracy and IT to 30 students in the 14-16 age category, and also funds two refugee support teachers and two bilingual assistants to deliver the programme.

Employability Forum

Addresses the needs of refugees with professional qualifications and experience who seek employment in the United Kingdom.

Ethiopian Association in Haringey

Provides ESOL and IT training to in excess of 100 Ethiopian refugees.

Glasgow North Ltd.

Assists in widening employment opportunities for 300 refugees.

Glasgow Young Men's Christian Association

Provides accommodation after National Asylum Support Service (NASS) support ends; arranges, where appropriate, English training and cultural life skills.

Hackney and Islington Refugee Training Partnership

Provides customised vocational training in ESOL for 144 refugees, job-search and careers advice for 250 refugees and general advice and advocacy for 500 refugees.

Hammersmith and Fulham Community Law Centre

Establishes a local Refugee Forum, providing 30 annual projects in areas such as employment, health, education, training and benefits advice, to hundreds of refugees.

London Action Trust

Aims to improve access to benefits, education, training, employment and overall support to refugees who have offended and are on probation within the Probation Service.

Middle East Christian Minorities Advice Centre

Provides information and advice to between 400 and 500 refugees in areas such as eduction, training, employment, health, social and cultural needs. The project also offers help in domestic violence situations and advises on how women can access the police, legal advice and social workers/welfare officers.

North East Consortium for Asylum Support Services (NECASS)

Assists, supports and enables refugees towards long-term settlement in the north east via the use of Innovative Inter Co-ordination Team (ICT).

Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM)

Provides ESOL training to unemployed refugees, and fast track IT training to highly skilled refugees. There will be an estimated 300 participants.

Nottingham City Council Housing

Improves access to benefits, accommodation, training and employment, in order to encourage resettlement locally, for approximately 400 refugees.

8 May 2001 : Column: 78W

PECAN Ltd.

Provides ESOL training to unemployed refugees in general and fast-track IT training for highly skilled refugees in particular. An estimated 300 participants.

Portsmouth City Council

Provides mental health support for between 250 and 350 refugees and asylum seekers in a community based day-care facility.

Refugee Council

Promotes better access to key services--health, education, employment, benefits, housing for at least 15,500 refugees in the regions.

Refugees into Jobs

Provides a grant scheme for 100 refugees covering child care, travel costs, materials and books, employment or work placement materials, tuition and examination fees, business start-up costs.

Refugee Women's Association

Creates a network of mental health and social care support services to enable 1,200 refugee women to integrate into United Kingdom society.

Save the Children (Scotland)

Develops educational initiatives to promote the integration of 160 school-aged refugees/asylum seekers, 80 per cent. of whom have refugee status.

Slough Borough Council

Provides for two outreach workers to help refugees or those with ELR to integrate into host community. Encouraging self-reliance, concentrating on skills assessment and employment opportunities.

Somali Cultural Centre

Consolidates and expands the advice service, ensures appropriate service provision.

TLC College

Provides an employment and settlement project to increase the access of 500-600 refugees to education, training and employment.

Wakefield Metropolitan District Council

Provides staff and services in the areas of employment, accommodation and education.

Waltham Forest Youth Service

Provides a youth project for groups of 150 unaccompanied minors and young refugees to meet each other and break down cultural barriers.

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