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Census accuracy

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 censuses. [104896]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 25 March 2003:

As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question on what assessment has been made of the accuracy of the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 Censuses.

A traditional component of every census is to undertake an assessment of the accuracy of the results. In previous censuses, particularly those in 1981 and 1991, part of this process was to undertake post-enumeration surveys to measure the extent of

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coverage and question response that had been achieved. The detailed results of these assessments were published in a number of reports, and were summarised in the respective General Reports for these censuses, which were laid before Parliament under the provisions of section 4(1) of the Census Act.

For the 2001 Census, the results have been subjected to a rigorous quality assurance process that followed an agreed strategy, which had been the subject of wide consultation with census users. Details of the procedures followed are set out in detail on the ONS website at www.statistics.gov.uk, and will also form the basis of a report to Parliament in due course. The usually resident population of each local authority by age and sex was considered in a consistent and detailed manner, involving comparison against diagnostic ranges derived from rolled-forward population estimates and aggregated data from administrative sources. We have assessed the consistency of each Local Authority's results with the information used for these comparisons. As well, an assessment of the quality of the diagnostic information itself is available. A series of evaluation reports on all aspects of the Census will be published this year.

Community Punishment Orders

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are serving community punishment orders; and what estimate he has made of the cost of administration of community punishment orders. [104002]

Hilary Benn: The number of people starting supervision by the Probation Service under community punishment orders during 2001 was 52,186. The estimated expenditure on community punishment orders in 2001–02 was £92.2 million. This excludes expenditure on combined community punishment and rehabilitation orders.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford, ref 3218/3. [102934]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 17 March 2003]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 24 March 2003.

Criminal Injuries (Compensation)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many applications for

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compensation were received by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in each of the last five years; and how many of these were (a) turned down and (b) accepted in each year; [104402]

(2) how many cases where an application for compensation received by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was turned down, a review was requested in each of the last five years; and how many of these reviews led to an award being made; [104403]

(3) how many appealed where an application for compensation received by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was turned down at initial consideration and at review; and of these, how many appeals were successful, in each year; [104404]

(4) how many awards made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority were (a) under £1,000, (b) between £1,000 and £10,000, (c) between £10,000 and £100,000 and (d) over £100,000 in each of the last five years. [104405]

Hilary Benn: The available information, supplied by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), is summarised in the table. It relates only to applications lodged under the tariff based scheme effective for applications lodged on or after 1 April 1996. It does not include old scheme cases lodged before that date.

The figures for the number of Review requests and appeals made include cases where a money award was offered at an earlier stage, but the level of award was not accepted. It is not possible readily to isolate for these purposes cases where the earlier decision was 'nil' award or a money award, nor, where the earlier decision was a money award if the reviewed or appealed decision resulted in a higher award, a lower award or the same award.

The figures for the number of tariff awards made in various bandings relate only to the tariff element of the award. In up to 10 per cent. of cases additional compensation can be payable for loss of earnings and/or care costs and/or dependency costs. In the time available to answer the question it was not possible for CICA to design, validate and run the extensive query/report that would have been required to capture that data as well.

Criminal Injuries Compensation SchemeCases determined under the tariff scheme 1997–98 to 2001–02

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Applications Received	77,326	78,651	78,742	76,501	78,202
Applications Finalised	57,814	74,859	75,917	70,713	74,818
Money Awards	31,528	40,164	39,700	36,924	39,813
Refusals	26,286	34,695	36,217	33,789	35,005
Review Requests	16,668	18,486	18,421	18,002	16,822
Reviews Finalised	6,100	12,687	13,665	11,136	11,197
Money Awards	2,533	5,065	5,692	4,681	5,032
Refusals	3,567	7,622	7,973	6,455	6,165
Appeals Submitted	2,555	6,421	7,054	4,651	3,683
Appeals Determined	1,425	3,059	5,052	5,829	5,777
Money Awards	409	1,126	2,147	2,577	2,705
Refusals	1,016	1,933	2,905	3,252	3,072
Awards Made (tariff element only) Level 1—£1,000	8,437	10,103	10,305	9,370	9,717
Levels 2 to 13—£1,250 to £10,000	22,785	29,594	28,830	27,049	29,231
Levels 14 to 23—£12,500 to £100,000	306	464	564	502	865
Levels 24 and 25—£175,000 to £250,000	—	3	1	3	—

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Detention and Training Orders

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received concerning the Detention and Training Order sentencing policy; what measures he will take to punish juvenile offenders who commit less than £6,000 of damage; and if he will make a statement. [104345]

Hilary Benn: I have received no recent representations about the Detention and Training Order, (DTO), the main custodial sentence for young people aged 12 to 17. For criminal damage of £5,000 or more a DTO sentence may be imposed. For damage of any scale in custodial establishments, the Prison Service and Youth Justice Board have developed a joint reward and sanctions strategy. This emphasises increased use of incentives, which can encourage positive behaviour and be withdrawn when negative behaviour is displayed. Most Young Offender Institutions have privilege schemes that are linked to sentence plans as well as institutional rules. For criminal damage of £5,000 or more a DTO sentence may be imposed. Where punishment is needed, this can include stoppage of earnings, restrictions on association and recreation, extra work and removal from normal Section.

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on detaining the head of household in a detention centre in order to ensure that remaining members of the family abide by conditions; and when this policy was decided. [104600]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 24 March 2003]: There is no policy which directs that a head of household should be detained, but neither is there anything to prevent this where it is considered appropriate. Use of detention is an operational matter, is used only as a last resort, and is decided according to the circumstances of each individual case.

Staff Shortages (Holloway Prison)

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many teaching hours have been cancelled at Holloway Prison over the last 12 months owing to staff shortages. [103953]

Hilary Benn: The number of education hours cancelled at Holloway from February 2002 to January 2003 was 4,564.25 hours from a total ordered provision of 18,587.75 hours (approximately 25 per cent.). The loss of hours was due to a combination of staff shortages and operational requirements to staff hospital escorts, particularly bed-watches.

Although Holloway still suffers from staff shortages, a re-profiling exercise has been held resulting in a new staff profile of 220 officers to deliver an appropriate regime. At the end of December 2002, the shortfall of staff at Holloway was 46.5 officers, which had reduced to 37.5 on 19 March 2003. A further, 10 to 15 staff from the most recent recruitment campaign are expected to be in post by the end of May. It is anticipated that Holloway will have a near full complement by late summer 2003. With a full complement of staff, Holloway aims to deliver a full programme of education to women prisoners subject to daily operational requirements.

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