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30 Jan 2003 : Column 1040W—continued
Police Discipline
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in each police force area were disciplined for unauthorised disclosure of information to the media in the last year for which figures are available. [94493]
Mr. Denham: This information is not held centrally and it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Police Recruitment
Mr. David: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he next expects to review the recruitment procedure for the police; and if he will make it his policy to re-examine the rule within the recruitment procedure relating to epilepsy. [93264]
Mr. Denham: The Government are introducing national standards for police recruitment as part of the Police Reform Programme. We are reviewing the
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fitness, eyesight and medical standards and eligibility criteria, and introducing a national application form and selection process. The new procedures will be phased in during 2003–04.
The guidelines on medical standards for recruitment (which include epilepsy) are the subject of a study by QinetiQ which will report in the spring.
Police
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of police officers recruited in each year since 1990 were graduates. [93658]
Mr. Denham: Information has been collected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary only from 1995. The numbers of graduates recruited against numbers of total police appointments is as follows.
| Year | Graduate recruits | Total police appointments |
|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 794 | 4,991 |
| 1996–97 | 944 | 6,410 |
| 1997–98 | 833 | 6,556 |
| 1998–99 | 673 | 5,560 |
| 1999–2000 | 767 | 4,683 |
| 2000–01 | 797 | 8,612 |
| 2001–02 | 1,306 | 11,647 |
Preston Prison
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will construct a hospital wing for Wymott and Garth, Preston prison. [93716]
Hilary Benn: We have no plans to construct hospital wings at either establishment.
Prison Estates
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) where maintenance of the streets, street-lighting, drainage and sewerage systems on the Parkhurst, Albany and Camp Hill prison estates remain the responsibility of the Prison Service of his Department, (a) what programmes of planned maintenance are in place, (b) how financial responsibility for maintenance is divided between his Department and householders and (c) which of his or the Prison Service's managers holds day-to-day responsibility for the delivery of essential maintenance; [91271]
- (2) if he will list the residential streets on the Parkhurst, Albany and Camp Hill prison estates, showing for each (a) how many housing units have been sold and how many remain in the ownership of the Prison Service or his Department and (b) whether, where houses have been sold, (i) ownership and (ii) maintenance of the streets, street-lighting, drainage and sewerage systems remain the responsibility of the Prison Service or his Department. [91270]
Hilary Benn: The Prison Service owns six houses within its former quarters estates adjacent to the prisons at Parkhurst, Camphill and Albany. There is a complex pattern of ownership of boundaries within these estates with the Prison Service also retaining ownership some roads and areas of open space, some with outline planning
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permission for further residential redevelopment. Responsibility for maintaining all highways, open space areas and services lies with current land owners, except where adopted by utility providers. Where land and premises have been sold by the Prison Service maintenance responsibilities are specified within the sale conveyances. There is no legal obligation on the Prison Service to maintain privately owned highways and services and there is no planned maintenance programme in place. Maintenance of Prison Service owned land and services is organised by the prisons' works departments.
The Prison Service retains the right under the terms of sale conveyances granted to directly recharge the cost of highway and services maintenance it does complete to all private owners, on these estates, benefiting from the works. The Prison Service contributes to such expenditure according to the benefit it derives, if any, from such works. Due to Prison Service funding priorities and strong opposition from many residents to the possibility of recharges being made, only limited maintenance works have been completed in recent years.
The Prison Service has been working closely with the Isle of Wight council and the residents associations to try to reach agreement on proposals for upgrading the highways and services on these estates, to a standard where they can be formally adopted and maintained by the Isle of Wight council and utility providers.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the progress of his planning applications for the sites of the (a) Parkhurst, (b) Albany and (c) Camp Hill prison estates, stating for each what obstacles remain to the granting of planning permission. [91272]
Hilary Benn: The Prison Service has obtained outline planning consents for residential development of six sites which have or may become surplus to operational requirements. Ecological surveys are being completed in respect of two other sites before further consideration of outstanding planning applications.
Prison Places
Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the number of available prison places; and if he will make a statement. [94063]
Hilary Benn: In England and Wales, £60 million has already been made available to provide 740 additional places by March 2004. This is in addition to funding from the 2002 Budget that will provide 2,320 additional places by March of this year, together with 400 places at Birmingham prison, which are funded through the 2000 spending review and are scheduled to open in April 2004.
We have also recently approved Prison Service plans to build two new prisons at Ashford (near Heathrow) and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. These two new prisons will together provide around 1, 300 places by 2004–05. In addition, a further £140 million has been agreed for the Prison Service, which will be used to build a further 800 places over the financial years 2004–05 and 2005–06.
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Information on establishments in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Scottish Executive and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland respectively.
Life Imprisonment
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been sentenced to life imprisonment under section 109 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 in each month during which the Act has been in force. [93965]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 29 January 2003]: The available information is contained in the table.
| December 1999 (5) | September (5) | June 2001 (7) |
| January 2000 (8) | October 2000 (3) | July 2001 (3) |
| February 2000 (6) | November 2000 (5) | August 2001 (2) |
| March 2000 (3) | December 2000 (1) | September 2001 (—) |
| April 2000 (4) | January 2001 (2) | October 2001 (9) |
| May 2000 (4) | March 2001 (6) | December 2001 (3) |
| July 2000 (5) | April 2001 (2) | |
| August 2000 (2) | May 2001 (6) | Total 113 |
Figures prior to December 1999 were not separately notified to the Home Office Court Proceedings Database. Figures for 2002 will be published in the Aututmn.
Racism Register
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if there is a register kept by (a) the Home Office and (b) the CRE of persons suspected of racism. [93583]
Beverley Hughes: Neither the Home Office nor the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) keep such a register.
Reconviction Rates
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of prisoners released in (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 were reconvicted within two years; and what his assessment is of reconviction rates for prisoners released in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (ii) 2002. [92160]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 21 January 2003]: The two-year 'un-adjusted' reconviction rate for prisoners discharged from custody in 1997 was 58 per cent. The provisional figure for 1998 was also 58 per cent. These rates are published in "Prison Statistics—England and Wales 2000".
Reconviction rates for offenders discharged from custody in the first quarter of 1999 have also been calculated according to the requirements of the Governments Public Service Agreement (PSA) 10 target. These are adjusted to take out convictions for offences committed prior to discharge, giving a
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reconviction rate of 55.3 per cent. The equivalent figures for the first quarter of 1997 and 1998 are 56.8 per cent. and 55.7 per cent. respectively.
Reconviction rates for more recent periods are not yet available.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of offenders completing community sentences in (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 were reconvicted within two years; and what his assessment is of reconviction rates for offenders completing programmes in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002. [92161]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 21 January 2003]: Reconviction rates for offenders commencing community penalties in the first quarter of 1997 have been calculated according to the requirements of the Government's Public Service Agreement (PSA) 10 target. These are adjusted to take out convictions for offences committed prior to commencement of the penalty and convictions for breach of the penalty where no further offence had been committed.
This gives a reconviction rate for the first quarter of 1997 of 45.7 per cent. The equivalent figure for the first quarters of 1998 and 1999 are 46.0 per cent. and 44.3 per cent. respectively.
Two-year reconviction rates are not available for offenders completing programmes in 2000, 2001 or 2002.
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