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Performance Targets
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the measurable criteria are for the PSA target to ensure just processes and just and effective outcomes; and if he expects the target to be met by March. [47230]
Mr. Keith Bradley [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Ensuring just processes and just and effective outcomes is one of the key objectives in the 2001–02 Criminal Justice Business Plan. It will be measured using the Public Service Agreement target to reduce the rate of re-conviction of all offenders punished by imprisonment or by community supervision by 5 per cent. by 2004 compared to the predicted rate.
Reducing the rate of re-conviction is one of this Government's key delivery priorities with a delivery plan in place. The delivery strands which will contribute towards the target have been selected on the principles of 'What Works' based on research evidence of effectiveness. The delivery strands are being monitored regularly to assess progress towards achieving this target, which is not due to be met until March 2004.
Drug Traffickers (Assets)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target to increase by one third the amount of assets identified from drug traffickers and secured will be met by March. [47226]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The Public Service Agreement (PSA) target was to increase the amount of assets identified from drug traffickers and secured by one third over a three-year period. The target is measured in terms of receipts from the enforcement of confiscation orders in drug trafficking cases. The baseline was receipts of £9.5 million during the 1997–98 financial year. The milestone objectives that were set were receipts of £10.4 million in year one (1998–99), £11.5 million in year two (1999–2000) and £12.6 million in year three (2000–01).
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The outcomes for years one and two were £10.5 million in 1998–99 and £9.3 million for 1999–2000. The outcome for 2000–01 was £11.75 million, a little short of the PSA target but still representing the largest annual return to date.
The Government have since set a new target of doubling the amounts recovered from both drug traffickers and other serious criminals, from the £29.4 million recovered in 1999–2000 in confiscation receipts and cash forfeited under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 to £60 million by 2004–05. This is to be achieved through changes in law and practice which the Government are seeking to bring about through the Proceeds of Crime Bill and the related initiatives published in the Asset Recovery Strategy.
"Living Without Fear"
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if delivery of the action points in Living Without Fear will be completed by the target date. [47449]
Mr. Denham [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The great majority of the action points have been completed by the target date, including the funding of 58 projects combating violence against women under the Crime Reduction Programme, the publication in March 2000 of the Multi-Agency Guidance for Addressing Domestic Violence, and the increase of the annual grant to Victim Support to £25 million from April 2001. Police performance indicators have been introduced as part of the development of a consistent approach to the use of data on violence against women.
A new ministerial group on domestic violence ensures that the agenda for development of work in this area is kept relevant and focused. Five key headline areas of work have emerged as priorities for the group:
- early intervention by health professionals;
improving the way in which criminal and civil jurisdiction work together in domestic violence cases;
promotion of safe accommodation choices for women and children fleeing domestic violence;
education and awareness raising; and
ensuring an appropriate and consistent police and Crown Prosecution Service response to domestic violence.
Restorative Justice
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on progress since 1997 on his policy of restorative justice. [47420]
Mr. Keith Bradley: The Government recognise the potential of restorative justice to offer a constructive response to crime which benefits victims, offenders and the wider community.
Restorative principles have been at the heart of the recent reforms of the youth justice system. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced a range of new options for juveniles which provide the opportunity for offenders to face up to the consequences of their crime and make reparation for it. The aim is to involve the community and victims in this process if appropriate. The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 developed this approach by introducing referral orders whereby youth offender
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panels operate as community conferences, involving community volunteers and victims, where possible. They agree contracts with the young offender which encourage reparation to the victim or the community and aim to address the causes of the offending behaviour. Referral orders were rolled out nationally on 1 April 2002.
In his review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales, the Lord Justice Auld recommended
- "the development and implementation of a national strategy to ensure consistent, appropriate and effective use of restorative justice techniques across England and Wales."
The Government are now considering its response to this recommendation.
Animal Tests
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place for monitoring the impact of the inter-departmental concordat on data sharing on the duplication by Government Departments on tests on animals; and if he will make a statement on the impact of the concordat. [48693]
Angela Eagle: In August 2000, we announced the inter-departmental concordat on data sharing to enable Government Departments to reduce the duplication of tests on animals. The concordat commits United Kingdom regulatory authorities to help resolve legal and other obstacles and encourage data sharing between clients and thereby reduce animal tests.
My officials are in contact with the parties to the concordat to review progress. They have been asked how they have put the concordat to use in encouraging companies to share data in the field of regulatory toxicology. We have requested information on ways in which the concordat has achieved its aims within each organisation and are equally keen to hear of any problems there may have been in implementing these aims, or which have slowed progress down, together with suggestions of how these could be overcome.
The full impact of the concordat will be determined once the review is complete.
Bail Conditions
Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are being taken to prevent young offenders on bail offending further. [50572]
Beverley Hughes: I am today making an order which will bring into force section 130 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 across England and Wales. It will do so on 22 April 2002 in the 10 street-crime initiative areas—London, Manchester, West Midlands, Merseyside, Thames Valley, Lancashire, Avon and Somerset, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire—and on 16 September 2002 in the rest of the country.
This section will give new powers to the courts to remand a 12 to 16-year-old into secure detention where they are of the view that the child or young person has a recent history of repeatedly committing imprisonable offences while on bail or in local authority accommodation. In such a case the court must be satisfied that only a secure remand would protect the public from
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serious harm from him or her, or that only a secure remand would be adequate to prevent the commission of further imprisonable offences by him or her.
I have also made an order which brings into force sections 131 and 132 of the same Act which allows courts to tag 12 to 16-year-olds while on bail or on remand to local authority accommodation. This will increase the number of options available to the courts for dealing with children and young people who repeatedly offend while on bail as an alternative to custody. It will come into force on 22 April 2002 in the 10 street-crime areas listed above plus Northumbria, and in the rest of the country on 1 June 2002.
Winter Fuel Payments
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many men have received a winter fuel payment for each year since the scheme began, broken down by (a) those who also receive another social security benefit and (b) those who do not receive another social security benefit. [44093]
Mr. Nicholas Brown: I have been asked to reply.
A gender breakdown is not available for the first two winters of the scheme, 1997–98 and 1998–99. Information is not yet available for winter 2001–02.
The information which is available is in the table.
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | |
|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | 10,112.5 | 11,123.5 |
| All men | (22)3,862.6 | 4,811.4 |
| Men in receipt of a social security benefit | (22)3,862.6 | 4,194.3 |
| Men not in receipt of a social security benefit | (22),(23)Nil | 617.0 |
(22) For the first three winters of the scheme 1997–98, 1998–99 and 1999–2000, only people aged 60 or over in receipt of income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance, or those over pension age in receipt of other qualifying benefits, were entitled to the payment.
(23) The figures for 1999–2000 exclude men aged 60 to 64 (and a small number of others) who became eligible for Winter Fuel Payments from 2000–01 onwards, and who were also able to claim retrospectively for previous years. It is not possible to relate the retrospective payments to specific years.
Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
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