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25 Mar 2003 : Column 152W—continued

Home Start Schemes

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Home Start schemes in South Devon that have received funding; and how much was awarded as earmarked in the 2002 Spending Review. [103473]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 18 March 2003]: Central Government does not directly fund any local Home Start in South Devon.

However, three government departments currently provide funding for Home Start UK of £574,000. (Home Office £100,000; Department for Education and Skills £250,000; and Department of Health £224,000).

Home Start UK provides support, advice on development and training for all local Home Starts including South Devon.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the expenditure incurred by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate was (a) in total and (b) by function in each of the last three years. [104396]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 24 March 2003]: Actual expenditure, excluding capital and cost of capital for 2000–01 and 2001–02 is as follows:

	(4)2000–01	(4)2001–02	2002–03
(a) Total expenditure	1,166	1,580	(5)—
(b) Staff pay	194	272	—
Non pay(6)	194	212	—
Grants	35	46	—
Asylum support	747	1,046	—
Other current expenditure	13	20	—
Receipts	(17)	(16)	—
Total resource	1,166	1,580	(5)—

⁽⁴⁾ Actual £ million

⁽⁵⁾ The actuals for 2002–03 is yet to be finalised

⁽⁶⁾ Including staff related expenditure, IT and accommodation

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what planned level of (a) total resources and (b) resources by function were allocated to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in the financial years (i) 2000–01, (ii) 2001–02 and (iii) 2002–03. [104395]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 24 March 2003]: The resource budget excluding capital and cost of capital is as follows:

£ million

	Budget
	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
(a) Total resource budget	1,166	1,666	1,737
(b) Staff pay budget	227	267	343
Non pay budget(7)	200	249	306
Grants	40	50	48
Asylum support	702	1,089	1,040
Other current expenditure	10	26	25
Receipts	(13)	(15)	(25)
Total resource budget	1,166	1,666	1,737

⁽⁷⁾ Including staff related expenditure, IT and accommodation

25 Mar 2003 : Column 153W

Inspections (Police)

Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff employed by the Audit Commission were responsible for inspecting the work of the police force in each year since 1997. [104697]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: In addition to conducting national value for money police studies, the Audit Commission is responsible for the financial audit of Police Authorities and auditing best value performance plans. However, this question is directed at "inspecting the work of the police force"—responsibility for inspecting the police service rests with her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

25 Mar 2003 : Column 154W

Juvenile Crime

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents involving juvenile crime there were in (a) 1997, (b) 2000 and (c) 2002. [104346]

Hilary Benn: The information collected centrally on recorded crime relates solely to offences and does not contain any details of the alleged offender.

The available information is contained in the table and relates to juveniles found guilty or cautioned in 1997 and 2000.

Juveniles⁽⁸⁾ found guilty at all courts or cautioned for all offences, England and Wales, 1997 and 2000

	Found guilty at all courts			Cautioned(9)			Total known offenders
	Notifiable offences(10)	Other offences	All offences	Notifiable offences(10)	Other offences	All offences	Notifiable offences(10)	Other offences	All offences
1997	61,137	18,014	79,151	98,239	6,281	104,520	159,376	24,295	183,671
2000	70,140,	21,283	91,423	93,590	3,951	97,541	163,730	25,234	188,964

⁽⁸⁾ Persons aged 10 and under 18.

⁽⁹⁾ Given reprimands or final warnings from April 2000.

⁽¹⁰⁾ Those offences covered by recorded crime.

Note:

Statistics for 2002 will be published in the Autumn.

Juvenile Establishments

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he proposes to assist prison officers in juvenile establishments in preventing anti-social behaviour by juveniles within those establishments. [104348]

Hilary Benn: Juvenile regimes are designed to promote and maintain good behaviour, and to discourage anti-social activity. They are intended to provide a full, purposeful and active day, with 30 hours a week purposeful activity, focusing on education, training and personal development.

More specifically, each juvenile establishment has a rewards and sanctions scheme; a system of adjudications for breaches of discipline; an anti-bullying strategy; and a personal officer scheme which assigns a member of staff to each young person on induction to act as contact point with outside agencies and family and, through example, to act as a positive influence on the young person's attitude and behaviour.

Prison officers have a key role to play in the delivery of the regimes and in preventing anti-social behaviour, and they will be assisted in that role by effective training and management. Governors of juvenile establishments are required to ensure that every member of staff taking up post receives, at an early stage, suitable training for working with juveniles. A team is currently being set up within Prison Service headquarters to support Governors in fulfilling that responsibility and to help improve the quality and delivery of training across the juvenile estate, both for prison officers and managers.

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many juveniles were sentenced to a detention and training order in each month since April 2000; [104062]

(2) what the average length was of the detention and training orders given in each month since April 2000. [104063]

Hilary Benn: The information requested is contained in the table.

Juveniles sentenced to detention and training orders by length of sentence and month,England and Wales, April 2000 to December 2001

Month	Number of juveniles sentenced to detention and training orders	Average sentence length imposed (months)
2000
April	454	7.8
May	538	8.1
June	622	7.5
July	572	7.3
August	619	7.5
September	563	7.6
October	581	7.4
November	644	7.6
December	481	7.6
Total 2000 (from April)	5,074	7.6
2001
January	607	6.9
February	629	7.3
March	637	7.5
April	530	7.3
May	657	7.2
June	578	7.4
July	612	7.3
August	616	7.2
September	515	7.5
October	637	7.5
November	644	7.6
December	407	7.0
Total 2001	7,069	7.3

Note:

Statistics for 2002 will be published in the Autumn.

25 Mar 2003 : Column 155W

Naturalisation

Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for naturalisation as a British citizen have been outstanding for (a) more than 13 months, (b) more than 18 months and (c) more than two years; and what the nationalities are of the applicants whose applications have been outstanding for over 12 months. [103937]

Beverley Hughes : I regret that the information requested on outstanding applications for naturalisation is not available except by examination of individual casefiles. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners (Self-injury)

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of (a) the relationship between prisoner numbers and self-inflicted deaths in prison and (b) measures to prevent suicides and self-harm by offenders under the supervision of the Probation Service with particular reference to those living in probation hostels. [104217]

Hilary Benn: There are many reasons why a prisoner may self-harm or attempt suicide; the general prison population contains a large number of prisoners with a combination of psychiatric disorders, alcohol and drug dependency, family background and relationship problems, histories of self-harm and previous abuse, all of which raise their risk of suicide and self-harm. It is likely that the number of self-inflicted deaths is rising because of a combination of the effects of increased prisoner throughout and an increasingly risk-laden population.

The current operating environment is very challenging because of more prisoners being remanded to prison and greater movement of prisoners. This puts a strain on resources and makes it harder to prevent suicides. Good care and support from staff saves many lives but such instances go largely unreported. The Prison Service's approach, in close partnership with other agencies such as the Youth Justice Board, and outside organisations such as Samaritans, is to better identify and support those who seem at greatest risk, with a stress on relationships, care and the physical environment. The Prison Service's suicide prevention and self-harm reduction programme includes a series of projects to improve pre-reception, reception and induction arrangements. It also includes the exchange of information; the care of prisoners; detoxification; prisoners supporting each other, and learning from investigations into deaths in custody.

With regard to approved probation and bail hostels, the National Probation Service last year brought in strengthened reporting requirements on deaths of residents. They are also currently developing a national suicide and self-harm awareness and prevention strategy for staff in hostels, which will strengthen existing local procedures.

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