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4 Mar 2003 : Column 968W—continued
Multi-agency Public Protection Panels
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons are under the supervision of each multi-agency public protection panel in England and Wales; whether there is a central database of offenders who are under the supervision of each multi-agency public protection panel in England and Wales; and whether a protocol exists for multi-agency public protection panels regarding the passing of information to other agencies. [99969]
Hilary Benn [holding answer 28 February 2003]: The number of offenders being supervised by multi-agency public protection panels in each area of England and Wales is not currently available and there is no central database of these offenders. However, each area's multi-agency public protection arrangements (the MAPPA) annual report (to be published this summer) will include this information. Also, a computer-based Violent and Sex offenders Register (ViSoR) is being developed with plans for its introduction next year.
Many Areas have established local protocols for sharing of information with other agencies and the consolidated guidance that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is to issue on MAPPA in March will contain advice on the legal principles and practicalities of information sharing.
Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner
Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list IT contracts in his Department above £50 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [99010]
Mr. Blunkett : I am unable to provide the hon. Member with a complete answer as central records are not held on the information sought, and to obtain the requested information in the time given may incur disproportionate cost. I am, however able to provide the following information on IT contracts held by the Home Department which were valued at £50 million or more, detailing date of inception and also when systems became fully functional:
(16) Contract is a multi-disciplinary one, which is not exclusively IT.
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Police Cells
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are held in police cells; and if he will make a statement. [99541]
Hilary Benn: On 27 February 2003, no prisoners were held in police cells under Operation Safeguard. The Prison Service last used police cells under Operation Safeguard on 20 December 2002.
Prison Service
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost of the Prison Service
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was in real terms at 2000–01 prices (a) in total and (b) per prisoner, in each year from 1985–86 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [99809]
Hilary Benn: Prison Service total costs for the years 1985–86 to 2001–02 are shown in the following table. The total cost figures for 2002–03 are not yet available. To ensure comparability across the years the data is based on actual cash expenditure and has been drawn from the Prison Service Annual Reports and Accounts from 1991–92 onwards and the annual Report on the Work of the Prison Department prior to 1991–92.
Separate information on cost per prisoner was not published in the Annual Report prior to 1999–2000. The figures for 2001–02 and 2002–03 have been constructed on a cash basis to give a consistent comparison with earlier years. The figure for 2002–03 is based on the published target figure.
| Financial year | Total current expenditure (Cash) (£ million) | Total capital expenditure (Cash) (£ million) | Total net expenditure (Cash) (£ million) | Total net expenditure (at 2000–01 prices) (Real terms) | Cost per prisoner (£000 at 2000–01 prices) (Real terms) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86 | 564.8 | 89.9 | 654.7 | 1,177.4 | n/a |
| 1986–87 | 585.0 | 111.1 | 696.1 | 1,212.4 | n/a |
| 1987–88 | 666.8 | 108.1 | 774.9 | 1,280.2 | n/a |
| 1988–89 | 750.8 | 158.2 | 909.0 | 1,406.0 | n/a |
| 1989–90 | 756.4 | 366.3 | 1,122.7 | 1,620.6 | n/a |
| 1990–91 | 887.7 | 453.8 | 1,341.5 | 1,796.3 | n/a |
| 1991–92 | 1,049.5 | 412.6 | 1,462.1 | 1,845.2 | n/a |
| 1992–93 | 1,138.4 | 331.9 | 1,470.3 | 1,797.4 | n/a |
| 1993–94 | 1,223.7 | 285.1 | 1,508.8 | 1,800.0 | n/a |
| 1994–95 | 1,279.6 | 318.3 | 1,597.9 | 1,881.3 | n/a |
| 1995–96 | 1,336.7 | 330.2 | 1,666.9 | 1,908.2 | n/a |
| 1996–97 | 1,388.5 | 220.1 | 1,608.6 | 1,784.9 | n/a |
| 1997–98 | 1,462.9 | 277.9 | 1,740.8 | 1,873.7 | n/a |
| 1998–99 | 1,611.7 | 200.4 | 1,812.1 | 1,898.3 | n/a |
| 1999–2000 | 1,696.8 | 149.6 | 1,846.6 | 1,888.5 | 26,454 |
| 2000–01 | 1,777.7 | 135.2 | 1,912.9 | 1,912.9 | 26,118 |
| 2001–02 | 1,921.0 | 197.0 | 2,118.0 | 2,069.1 | 29,037 |
| 2002–03 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 28,367 |
Prison Training Programmes
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to (a) promote and (b) provide financial assistance to corporate socially responsible training programmes in prisons and young offenders institutions; and if he will make a statement. [98877]
Hilary Benn : A number of companies and other organisations help the Prison Service to work to reduce reoffending through skills training and work placement schemes for prisoners. Discussions are continuing with those organisations on how best to develop these important and welcome links.
Prisoner Nutrition
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of (a) the nutritional needs of prisoners in HM prisons and (b) the need for supplements to be issued; and if he will make a statement. [99943]
Hilary Benn: Prison caterers are required to offer a balanced and varied diet which meets the nutritional needs of prisoners. Healthy options are indicated on all menus. Advice for caterers is contained in Prison Service Order 5000, together with mandatory requirements. The advice is consistent with recommendations made by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy and covers nutritional and energy intake.
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A nutritional research analysis of prison food was carried out in late 1998 by Professor John Edwards of Bournemouth University. The report concluded that 'the diet consumed in all surveyed prisons was extremely good and in general fell within the recommendations'. Individual clinical needs of prisoners are assessed by medical officers. Any necessary supplements would be given on the authority of the medical officer.
Prisoners (Drugs)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of offenders serving sentences of (a) under 12 months and (b) over 12 months tested positive for (i) heroin, (ii) crack cocaine and (iii) cocaine while in prison in the last year for which figures are available. [99536]
Hilary Benn: Figures for prisoners in England and Wales testing positive under the random mandatory drug testing programme are not disaggregated by sentence length. Figures for heroin are included under the heading of opiates. Laboratory analysis is not able to distinguish between use of crack cocaine and cocaine. The respective percentages of positive tests for opiates and cocaine in 2001–02 are 4.6 per cent. and 0.2 per cent.
Probation Service
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what performance targets are set for the National Probation Service in England and Wales. [99932]
Hilary Benn: The performance targets for the National Probation Service for England and Wales are as follows.
National Probation Service Performance Measures
Service Delivery Agreement (SPA) Targets
1. Improve the timeliness of probation service reports to the courts by:
- (a) increasing the proportion of Pre-Sentence Reports (PSRs) completed within the 15 day National Standard to 90 per cent.; and
(b) increasing the proportion of reports to the court (i.e. PSRs and Specific Sentence Reports (SSRs)) that are SSRs to 20 per cent. in 2002–03 and 25 per cent. in 2003–04.
3. Increase the number of offenders going through accredited offending behaviour programmes with 12,000 offenders to complete accredited programmes in 2002–03, 20,000 offenders to complete accredited programmes in 2003–04, and, subject to a satisfactory scheme being accredited by the Correctional Services Accreditation Panel, a further 30,000 to start enhanced community punishment programmes in 2003–04 (from October 2003 to March 2004).
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4. Breach action to be taken in accordance with the National Standard (on or before second unacceptable failure for community sentences and on or before third unacceptable failure for licence cases)—Target: 90 per cent.
5. To improve access to employment and accommodation for offenders.
6. Ensure that the number of Drug Treatment and Testing Order commencements in England and Wales increases to 6,000 approximately in 2002–03, to 9,000 in 2003–04 and to 12,000 in 2004–05.
7. Progress against the Home Secretary's race equality employment targets (published in July 1999) aimed at increasing levels of representation, retention and career progression of people from minority ethnic groups.
8. To reduce sickness absence in the probation service to an average of 10 days per staff year by 2003 and to 9.0 days per staff year by 2004 and to sustain this improvement thereafter.
Supporting Performance Measures (SPMs)
1. Proportion of cases involving serious sexual or other violent offence in which the probation service makes contact with the victim or victim's family within eight weeks of sentence in accordance with National Standards and Victim's Charter Target: contact made within target time in 85 per cent. of cases where offender sentenced to 12 months or more.
- (a) PSRs completed in 15 working days
(b) Total reports that are SSRs
4. Actual reconviction rates for persons subject to community orders by type of order compared to predicted rates. Target: lower actual rates for all types, and achieve rates lower than predicted
5. Average of compliance proportions across a basket of national standards requirements on first and subsequent contact, i.e:
Community Rehabilitation Orders
- first appointment was arranged for within five working days
at least 12 appointments were arranged for within the first 12 weeks
at least six appointments were arranged for the next 12 weeks
appointments thereafter were monthly
- first work session was arranged for within 10 working days
offenders were offered a minimum of five hours per week throughout order
- first probation appointment arranged for within five days and first work session arranged for within 10 days
at least 12 CR appointments and 11 CP work sessions arranged in first 12 weeks
at least six CR appointments and 12 CP work sessions arranged in next 12 weeks
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-
Licences
offender seen within one working day of release
home visit within 10 working days of release (excluding HOC)
weekly contact arranged for first four weeks (further to first meeting)
two-weekly contact arranged for second and third months
monthly contact arranged thereafter
6. Proportion of supervision cases where supervision plan done in 15 days, and reviews every four months.
7. Proportion of cases where breach action taken in accordance with NS, broken down by community punishment order/community rehabilitation order/community punishment and rehabilitation order/licence (i.e. breakdown of SDA 4).
8. Proportion of offenders under supervision whose current offence is serious (i.e. violence, sexual, robbery or burglary). (To be discontinued from 2003–04)
9. Proportion of cases assessed as High of Very High risk of harm on any of the four such OASys measures where a plan to manage the risk was prepared within five days of order or release, or the date at which a previously lesser risk was identified as having risen to High or Very High.
10. Proportion of hostel residence orders or conditions which are completed.
11. For offenders on community sentences: difference between the proportion in employment at end of their supervision and that in employment at start.
- difference between the proportion in employment at end of their licence and that in employment directly after release
difference between the proportion in employment at end of their licence and that in employment immediately before custodial sentence started
- difference between the proportion in education or training at end of their licence and that in education or training directly after release
difference between the proportion in education or training at end of their licence and that in education or training immediately before custodial sentence started
- difference between the proportion in settled accommodation at end of their licence and that in settled accommodation directly after release
difference between the proportion in settled accommodation at end of their licence and that in settled accommodation immediately before custodial sentence started
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18. Proportion of bedspaces in approved hostels which are occupied. Target: 90 per cent.
19. Proportion of all community punishment orders where the average weekly hours worked was at least five hours.
20. Wastage of staff (excluding death, retirement and in-service transfer) as percentage of work force.
21. Annual sample survey of sentencer satisfaction, i.e. the proportion of magistrates satisfied with
- the work of the service overall
the overall usefulness of PSRs, ditto for SSRs
the objectivity of PSRs, ditto for SSRs
- the proportion of judges satisfied with
the work of the service overall
the overall usefulness of PSRs, ditto for SSRs
the objectivity of PSRs, ditto for SSRs
22. Achievement of Charter Mark or Investors in People award.
(To be discontinued from 2003–04)
23. Proportion of hostel residents whose conviction or charge is for a serious offence (i.e. violence, sexual, robbery or burglary).
(To be discontinued from 2003–04)
24. Average National Standards compliance proportions for high risk of harm cases—on same lines as general basket measure at SPM 5 above but including proportion of cases where appointments actually took place as well as just arranged.
25. The proportion of those offenders for whom drug misuse is a criminogenic factor who are on a recognised drugs intervention (e.g. DTTO, drug abstinence order, drugs programme) in the course of their supervision.
26. Proportion of offenders commencing orders and licences who go on accredited programmes:
- (a) Proportion for all such offenders;
(b) From 2003–04 proportion for those offenders who have OASys scores above a certain level.
28. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) implementation quality rating (IQR) for delivery of accredited programmes.
29. Number of offenders completing accredited drug misuse programmes.
30. Ratio of total commencements of orders and licences to total (weighted) staff. (To be discontinued from 2003–04)
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31. Satisfaction surveys of other CJS stakeholders (e.g. police, other Crime and Disorder Act partners); partnership agencies; victims
Bail information. (To be discontinued from 2003–04)
To ensure that there is a clear recommendation in at least 95 per cent. of PSRs written on minority ethnic offenders.
To ensure complete and timely information in at least 95 per cent. of returns.
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