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16 May 2003 : Column 502W—continued
Prisons
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bullying incidents there were on girls aged 15 to 17 years in prison in each year since 1997. [112514]
Paul Goggins: All prisons have anti-bullying strategies. These are designed to detect incidents of bullying, confront and address the bullying behaviour and support the victim. Under these arrangements, the available information shows that since 1 March 2002, there have been 151 incidents concerning juvenile girls in prison.
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each year since 1997 the ratio of prison officers to prisoners for (a) the general prison population, (b) women prisoners and (c) girls aged between 15 and 17 years in prison. [112566]
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Paul Goggins: The information is as follows:
| Date | Officers to all prisoners | Officers to prisoners in female only establishments | Officers to female juvenile prisoners (15 to 17 years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 April 1997 | 1:2.49 | 1:1.67 | — |
| 30 April 1998 | 1:2.60 | 1:1.84 | — |
| 31 March 1999 | 1:2.50 | 1:1.74 | — |
| 31 March 2000 | 1:2.48 | 1:2.26 | — |
| 31 March 2001 | 1:2.51 | 1:2.29 | — |
| 31 March 2002 | 1:2.76 | 1:2.63 | — |
| 31 March 2003 | 1:2.81 | 1:2.35 | — |
| 12 May 2003 | — | — | 1:1.27 |
Officers include prison officers, senior officers and principal officers. The Prison Service personnel database can only differentiate staff by establishment rather than individual units within establishments. Therefore, information relating to female prisoners can only be provided for establishments that only accommodate female prisoners.
There are no establishments that only hold juvenile female prisoners and therefore staffing numbers are not available centrally. A manual count of female juvenile prisoners and officers responsible for them has been carried out but no historical staffing data are available.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Director General of the Prison Service is responsible for the operation of private prisons in England and Wales. [112133]
Paul Goggins: On 6 May 2003, operational responsibility for the nine private prisons in England and Wales was transferred from the Director General of the Prison Service to the Office for Contracted Prisons, a newly created unit within the Home Office, under the Commissioner for Correctional Services.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) which companies hold contracts to supply the Prison Service with meat products; and on what basis those contracts were awarded; [111879]
- (2) whether meat products rejected by suppliers for sale to the general population are being supplied to the prison service for consumption in HM Prisons. [111880]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 8 May 2003]: The Prison Service currently contracts with two companies to supply meat products; Harry Yearsley Ltd. and N. H. Case Ltd. These companies supply products on a national basis and in competition with each other. Both companies were awarded contracts as a result of a competitive tendering action undertaken in strict adherence to European Union procurement regulations. The award was made on the basis of best value for money to the Prison Service, which took account of a range of evaluation criteria including price, quality, availability and the ability of the bidders to provide the requirements of the Service. All products supplied are fully compliant with all meat hygiene regulations including full product traceability.
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were moved from HM prisons and kept temporarily in police custody, broken down by (a) police authority and (b) month, in the period March 2002 to March 2003. [110844]
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Paul Goggins: The information you have requested is not collated centrally and cannot be provided except at disproportionate expense.
Sexual Assault Referral Centres
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what direct financial support the Home Office gives to each of the sexual assault referral centres in England and Wales; [110728]
- (2) whether it is Home Office policy that local police authorities should share in the costs of (a) establishing and (b) running sexual assault referral centres; and whether there has been a budget allocated to a police area for such a project; [110725]
(3) what Home Office policy is on whether sexual assault referral centres should be partly financed as to (a) capital setup costs and (b) running costs by primary care trusts; and what liaison he has with the Department of Health about such projects; [110724]
(4) what Home Office guidelines there are to assist in the establishment of policies and procedures for sexual assault referral centres; [110723]
(5) what policy the Home Office has to encourage the establishment of sexual assault referral centres in England and Wales; [110727]
(6) how many sexual assault referral centres there are in England and Wales; and how they are financed. [110729]
Paul Goggins: The Home Office is currently considering ways in which further support can be provided to victims of sexual crime. Possibilities under consideration include the use of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs); rape crisis and other counselling and support services; national or local telephone helplines; and some combination of these. The Home Office will consider with the Department of Health and other government departments how best to take these complex issues forward.
We believe there are currently at least six SARCs in England and Wales. Funding for these has been negotiated and agreed locally. For example, the pioneer SARC, St. Mary's Centre in Manchester, is funded jointly by the Greater Manchester Police and the Central Manchester and Children's University Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust. The two REACH Centres in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland are jointly funded by Northumbria Police, the four local health authorities, and six local authorities.
At present, no agreed process and criteria exist for the funding or setting up of SARCs and no Home Office guidance has been published on these matters. Most SARCs are currently jointly funded by the police and local health authorities, and neither the Home Office (except as outlined below) nor the Department of Health has allocated specific funding for SARCs.
The Home Office has, however, provided some direct funding to certain SARCs. The Crime Reduction
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Programme (CRP) Violence against Women Initiative (VAWI) is an evidence-led programme which aims to find out which approaches and practices are effective in supporting victims and reducing incidents of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault. As part of this programme, some funding was allocated to three existing SARCs (St. Mary's in Manchester, REACH in Newcastle and STAR in West Yorkshire) to enable them to implement additional interventions to help support victims of rape and to improve their services. The funding was provided in July 2002 up to the end of March 2003.
The Home Office commissioned Professor Liz Kelly from London Metropolitan University to evaluate the contribution of these three established SARCs towards supporting victims of rape and sexual assault and reducing attrition in the criminal justice system. An overview of the research is due to be published in the autumn of 2003. The Home Office will take Professor Kelly's findings into consideration when looking at ways in which further support can be provided to victims of sexual crime.
At a recent seminar we discussed with the Department of Health a range of issues around service for sexual assault victims, including SARCs. We plan to discuss further.
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Terrorism
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many suspected terrorists have been detained and for what periods under the Anti Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. [113603]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 15 May 2003]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer) on 14 May 2003, Official Report, column 247W.
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications have been made by the Egyptian Government in the last six years for extradition to Egypt of suspected terrorists; and how many have succeeded. [113604]
Mr. Blunkett [holding answer 15 May 2003]: There has been no such request from Egypt in the last six years.
Work-related Deaths
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce new policies covering work-related deaths. [110361]
Paul Goggins: We are committed to reforming the law to increase corporate liability for manslaughter and will do so when parliamentary time allows. The results of the regulatory impact assessment are currently being studied and will influence any draft legislation.