| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Special Advisers
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the special advisers in his Department and (a) their date of appointment and (b) their responsibilities; if any of them are authorised to speak to the media; and if he will make a statement. [9485]
Mr. Blunkett: The number of special advisers working for me had been increased by 0.5 of a full-time post compared with the number working for me in the pre-election period. This, as with the arrangements between 1997 and 2001, reflects the particular circumstances of my position and also the extent of written work associated with my present post. Nick Pearce, Katharine Raymond and Sophie Linden (part-time) took up their appointments as special advisers on 8 June. Huw Evens took up his appointment on 2 July. As part of their duties they will brief the media as appropriate.
With the transfer of the United Kingdom Anti-Drug Co-ordination Unit from the Cabinet Office, Keith Hellawell is joining the Home Office, on special adviser terms, in an advisory role on international drug issues.
Prisoners (Purposeful Activity)
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time per week spent by prisoners in purposeful activity in each category of prison. [9477]
Beverley Hughes: The average time per week spent by prisoners in purposeful activity in each category of prison between April and August 2001 is set out in the table.
| Category | Time spent in purposeful activity (hours) |
|---|---|
| Category B | 25.4 |
| Category C | 26.4 |
| Female closed | 27.3 |
| Female local | 22.4 |
| Female open | 35.6 |
| High Security | 19.3 |
| Male closed Young Offenders Institute (YOI) | 23.1 |
| Male juvenile | 28.0 |
| Male local | 19.6 |
| Male open | 42.7 |
| Male open YOI | 40.3 |
| Male remand centre | 21.5 |
These data are provisional and subject to validation by establishments. Establishments are categorised by their main role only. Establishments that have more than one role have been placed in the category that represents the primary or predominant function of the prison.
Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if it is his policy to consider the availability of appropriate training courses in allocating prisoners to particular institutions. [8825]
Beverley Hughes: Yes. The main factor which is considered in determining a prisoner's allocation is the security category of the prisoner. But allocation to a prison within that constraint will take account, among other things, of any need for identified offence-related behavioural programmes to confront assessed risk and the prisoner's educational or training needs or potential.
Coroners Court
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will review the workings and practices of coroners courts; and if he will make a statement. [9020]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 19 October 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to a question from the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) on 5 July 2001, Official Report, column 250W. The chair and members of the review team were subsequently announced on 26 July.
Correspondence
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department will reply to the letter dated 14 September from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding his constituents, Mr. and Mrs. G Chernov. [8226]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 19 October 2001]: I apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in replying to his letters. My hon. Friend the Minister of State, Home Department, Lord Rooker, has agreed to meet the hon. Member as requested in his correspondence and his office is currently arranging this.
Victim Support
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what help his Department makes available to victim support. [8558]
Mr. Keith Bradley [holding answer 18 October 2001]: The Home Office grant to the organisation Victim Support in the current financial year will be £25 million. This is over £6 million more than last year, and more than twice the grant paid in 1997. The extra money this year will enable Victim Support to complete the provision of witness support services in all magistrates courts and further enhance their service delivery to victims of crime.
Prisoner Rehabilitation
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets he has set HM prisons for the rehabilitation of offenders; and if he will make a statement. [7295]
- >
Beverley Hughes: The targets set by the Home Secretary for the rehabilitation of offenders are contained in the Public Service Agreement (PSA) between the Chancellor and the Home Secretary, in a Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) between the Home Secretary and the Prison Service, and in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Prison Service.
The PSA targets that relate to prisoner rehabilitation are:
- to reduce the rate of reconvictions:
of all offenders punished by imprisonment or by community supervision by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate; and
of all young offenders by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate;
to reduce the levels of repeat offending among problem drug misusing offenders by 25 per cent. by 2005 (and by 50 per cent. by 2008).
- to increase the educational and vocational qualifications of offenders to 23,400 accredited educational/vocational qualifications in 2001–02 and 36,200 in 2003–04, including an increase in the number of level 2 basic skill awards from 18,000 to 21,000;
to increase the number of offenders going through accredited offending behaviour programmes to 8,900 by 2003–04, including 1,240 through sex offender treatment programmes;
to double the number of prisoners getting jobs on release by April 2004;
to reduce the rate of positive results from random drug tests from 20 per cent. in 1998–99 to 10 per cent. by 31 March 2004;
to increase the number of prisoners entering treatment between 2001–02 and 2003–04 in the following categories:
CARATS (Counselling, Assessment Referral, Advice and Throughcare, Services) from 20,000 to 25,000;
detoxification-from 23,000 to 27,000;
drug rehabilitation programmes and therapeutic communities—from 5,000 to 5,700;
to establish, by December 2000, a baseline and targets for the Spending Review period, for increasing the caseload of prisoners on a voluntary drug testing compact.
- to deliver 23,400 accredited educational or vocational qualifications in 2001–02, including 18,000 level 2 basic skills awards;
to ensure that prisoners spend on average at least 24 hours per week engaged in purposeful activity;
- to deliver 6,100 accredited offending behaviour programme completions in 2001–02, including 1,160 completions of sex offender treatment programmes;
to ensure the rate of positive results from random mandatory drug tests is lower than 12 per cent. by April 2002.
Special Constables
Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there were in the West Midlands Police Force in (a) 1971, (b) 1981, (c) 1991 and (d) 2000, respectively; how many of these were from minority ethnic communities; and how many special constables were deployed in the Dudley North OCU in 2001. [7088]
- >
Mr. Denham: The number of serving special constables at force level have only been recorded centrally from 1991 onwards. Figures for the years prior to this are not available. The total number of special constables, including the numbers of those from minority ethnic communities in West Midlands Police for 1991 and 2000 are set out in the table.
| Year | Total number of special constables | Special constables from minority ethnic backgrounds |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March 1991 | 843 | 115 |
| 31 March 2000 | 680 | 75 |
I am informed by West Midlands Police that in 2001, there was an average of 34 serving special constables deployed in the Dudley North Operational Command Unit (OCU).
The Government are committed to increasing the special constabulary and we are looking at radical improvements in their management, welfare and deployment as part of the police reform process.
Police Marksmen (Civilian Casualities)
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been shot by police in each of the last 10 years; how many (a) died and (b) were seriously injured; and how many of these were found not to have been carrying firearms at the time they were shot. [7414]
Mr. Denham: Figures available are as follows:
| Persons shot by police | Died | Injured(29) | Unarmed(30) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 1992 | 11 | 3 | 8 | — |
| 1993 | 5 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 1994 | 6 | 2 | 4 | — |
| 1995 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 1996 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 1997 | 1 | — | 1 | — |
| 1998 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 1999 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 2000 | 6 | 2 | 4 | — |
| 2001 | 2 | 2 | — | — |
(29) Includes all injuries
(30) Excludes incidents where the person was subsequently found to be in possession of a replica or imitation firearm or in possession of other dangerous weapons (knives, air weapon etc.)
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |