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25 Feb 2003 : Column 404W—continued
Iraq
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Iraqi citizens he expects to apply for asylum in the United Kingdom in the event of conflict in Iraq. [96164]
Beverley Hughes: A number of Iraqi citizens currently seek asylum in the United Kingdom on a weekly basis. It is not clear if the numbers would significantly increase following a conflict in Iraq.
Home Office officials routinely revise contingency plans to deal with increases in asylum seekers.
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Iraqi refugees the United Kingdom will take in the event of conflict in Iraq. [96166]
Beverley Hughes: Home Office officials, in liaison with other Government Departments, routinely revise contingency plans, including those for large influxes of displaced persons.
There are, at present, no specific plans to take refugees from Iraq.
Point-of-sale Payment
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from (a) banks and (b) retailers on conversion to microchip and PIN technology for point of sale payment transactions. [99113]
Mr. Denham: I met representatives of the Association of Payment and Clearing Services (APACS) on 12 July 2001 and 31 January 2002 to discuss the implementation of this technology. Since then I have received regular joint progress reports from APACS and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), as well as from the implementation programme managers.
The Chief Executive of APACS wrote to me in February and again in October last year to express concern about the possible outcome of an Office of Fair Trading investigation into Mastercard interchange fees. He advised me that a ruling that these fees were uncompetitive would put the implementation of Chip and PIN at risk.
The programme managers, together with representatives from APACS and the BRC, had a further meeting with Home Office officials on 21 January this year, when they advised that the programme was going well and was on target for implementation in late 2004.
Police Officers (Brain Injury)
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how frequently serving police officers returning to active duties after traumatic brain injury should be assessed by a clinical psychologist. [98674]
Mr. Denham: Police Occupational Health Units in England and Wales will review the case of each officer who has suffered a head injury before they resume duty. Where appropriate, additional psychological tests and treatments are given by either a clinical psychologist or neuropsychologist. The aim of such assessment is to ensure that each force complies with the duty of care described in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Prisons
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the rights of prison officers to undertake industrial action; and whether the Government plans to review these rights. [97127]
Hilary Benn: Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 makes it unlawful to induce Prison Officers to withhold their services or commit a breach of discipline. For this purpose a breach of discipline means a contravention of Prison Rules or the
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code of conduct and discipline in the Prison Service. If inducements occur and loss results, the Secretary of State may take legal action against the person or persons so inducing those staff for damages.
In addition, on the introduction of the Employee Relations Voluntary Agreement in April 2001, the union signatories (Prison Officers' Association (POA) and Prison Governors' Association (PGA)) also agreed not to induce, authorise or support any form of industrial action, which would have the effect of disrupting the operations of the Prison Service. The POA are contractually bound to honour this agreement, which in effect offers protection to the Prison Service against industrial action, in its ability to obtain injunctive relief.
There are no current plans to review the provisions of the Voluntary Agreement to which the Prison Service remain committed.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug misusers under treatment have been (a) arrested and (b) imprisoned since 1 January 2002. [98146]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Information is not available in the form requested.Emerging evidence from the National Arrest Referral monitoring system provides some data relating to drug misusers who are arrested and voluntarily screened by arrest referral workers.
Data for October 2000 to September 2001 show that of the 48,810 arrestees screened by an arrest referral worker, 12 per cent. (5,268) were to continue in treatment they were currently receiving. The arrestees concerned are likely to be problematic drug misusers and may not be representative of the wider arrestee population.
Other research, from the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring programme (NEW-ADAM), has shown that of a total sample of arrestees interviewed, 29 per cent. said that they currently had a need for treatment and, of those, nine per cent. said that they were receiving treatment and 29 per cent. said that they were not.
The numbers of prisoners who have engaged in one or more of the Prison Service's range of drug interventions since 1 January 2002 are shown in the table:
| Drug intervention | Number of prisoners engaging since 1 January 2002(11) |
|---|---|
| Detoxification | 47,811 |
| CARATs(12) | 49,675 |
| Rehabilitation programmes and therapeutic communities | 4,334 |
(11) The data cover the period 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2002
(12) Counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare services—a low-level intervention that provides a gateway assessment, referral and support service to prisoners both within custody and upon their initial release.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many problematic drug users have been in prison. [98151]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Records of the actual number of problematic drug-misusing prisoners who pass through custody are not kept centrally by the Prison Service.
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Data from the Office for National. Statistics show that around 80 per cent. of prisoners have used drugs at some point before coming into prison, with 54 per cent. reporting drug dependency in the year prior to custody. With an annual throughput of approximately 130,000 offenders, an average of 70,000 drug-misusing prisoners may be in custody during the course of a year; with around 39,000 present at any one time.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his estimate is of the proportion of (a) the prison population, (b) those going through the court system and (c) those going through the court system charged under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 whose offending relates to the need to support illegal drug use over the last five years. [98177]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The numbers of prisoners who have engaged in one or more of the Prison Service's range of drug interventions since 1 January 2002 are shown in the table.
| Drug intervention | Number |
|---|---|
| Detoxification | 47,811 |
| CARATS(13) | 49,675 |
| Rehabilitation programmes and therapeutic communities | 4,334 |
(13) Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare Services—a low-level intervention that provides a gateway assessment, referral and support service to prisoners both within custody and upon their initial release.
Records of the actual number of problematic drug-misusing prisoners who pass through custody are not kept centrally by the Prison Service. Data from the Office for National Statistics show that around 80 per cent. of prisoners have used drugs at some point before coming into prison, with 54 per cent. reporting drug dependency in the year prior to custody. With an annual throughput of approximately 130,000 offenders, an average of 70,000 drug-misusing prisoners may be in custody over the course of a year.
The level of detail required about the court system is not collected centrally. However, the NEW-ADAM 2 research programme shows that 65 per cent. of arrestees tested positive for one or more illegal drug. 40 per cent. of arrestees reported a connection between their illegal drug use and offending behaviour—and, when those who had committed acquisitive crime were examined, this figure rose to 55 per cent.
- 2 New England and Wales Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring programme—a study that collected data from arrestees in police custody during 2000–01.
Probation Service
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures his Department is taking to (a) increase employment to the Probation Service and (b) ensure that officers have the necessary qualifications, training and experience to manage their caseloads; and if he will make a statement. [98194]
25 Feb 2003 : Column 407W
Hilary Benn: Trainee Probation Officers are recruited across England and Wales. This is achieved by an annual recruitment drive and the number of trainee probation officers recruited by this method has increased from 254 in 1998 to 787 in 2002.
The 2003 recruitment drive will commence on 17 March and will be advertised in the national press. The target number is 1,100, distributed in proportion across the nine regions of England and Wales.
Trainee probation officers complete the Diploma in Probation Studies over a period of two years. This professional qualification combines work and university based learning.
Candidates must attain a Community Justice NVQ Level 4 and an undergraduate degree in order to become fully accredited probation officers. The programme is provided in partnership with universities, who work with Regional Training Consortia and the National Probation Directorate.
The programmes are provided in accordance with the Core Curriculum and Regulatory Framework, administered on behalf of the Home Secretary by the Community Justice National Training Organisation (CJNTO). These documents are reviewed at intervals to ensure that the curriculum is updated to address current best practice. The programmes are subject to regular inspections conducted jointly by the CJNTO and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP).
In addition, the Probation Service has increased the number of Probation Service Officers and other staff to 8,282 in 2002 from 6,612 in 1998.
Staff involved in the delivery of Accredited programmes are provided with appropriate training that is subject to rigorous quality assurance as determined by the Joint Accreditation Panel at the point of programme approval.
Probation areas provide this and other related training via local and regional training units.
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