---

21 May 2003 : Column 865W—continued

Charities

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what representations he has received about (a) the proposed Charities Bill and (b) charitable incorporated organisations; [114573]

(2) when legislation will be introduced to enable the formation of charitable incorporated organisations. [114572]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 19 May 2003]: The Charitable Incorporated Organisation would be brought into existence by a Charities Bill. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary recently promised to publish a draft Bill as soon as possible.

The Strategy Unit's recent review of charity law and regulation (Private Action, Public Benefit), was put out for public consultation late last year. Officials have nearly completed an analysis of the approximately 1,100 written responses to the consultation. Initial analysis of the responses indicates clear support for a Charities Act and for the Charitable Incorporated Organisation legal form. The Government intends in the summer to publish a summary of the views expressed by respondents to the consultation together with an indication of how the Government intends to take the recommendations forward.

Classified Documents

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many documents are held by his Department that are subject to security classification, broken down by category of classification. [107343]

Mr. Blunkett: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. My Department follows the Cabinet Office guidance on document marking and control.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to his letter to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 7 April 2003 about the letter from the right hon. Member of 27 September 2002, with regard to Mr.Winston Frank Tracey, why he has not yet replied to that letter. [113440]

Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 May 2003.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the cost of the Criminal Records Bureau referred to by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State during the adjournment debate of 23rd July 2002, Official Report,

21 May 2003 : Column 866W

column 199WH, fall during the period of the cost recovery plan; and whether the estimate of the costs has changed. [112037]

Paul Goggins: £406 million (44 per cent) of the £930 million Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) costs fall during the period of the cost recovery plan.

Until the contract negotiations with the principal business partner have been completed and a revised business plan produced it is not possible to state whether this estimate of costs has changed.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Criminal Record Bureau's revised forecasts of demand for (a) standard and (b) enhanced disclosures are for (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05. [112043]

Paul Goggins: Demand for Higher-level Disclosures in 2003–04 are forecast to be 2.6 million, 2.21 million Enhanced Disclosures and 390 thousand Standard Disclosures. Demand for Higher-level Disclosures in 2004–05 are forecast to be 3 million, 2.55 million Enhanced and 450 thousand Standards.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much it cost to implement the paper-based application route for the Criminal Records Bureau. [112045]

Paul Goggins: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) paid £2,106,667 to Capita in respect of a Contract Change Note to implement the paper-based application route. It is estimated that a further £7.1 million has been spent by the CRB in respect of its additional operating costs.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list for each month since the Criminal Records Bureau started operations the (a) number of applications received, (b) the number of (i) standard and (ii) enhanced disclosures issued, (c) the number of applications outstanding, (d) the number of applications outstanding for more than (A) three weeks, (B) six weeks and (C) nine weeks, (e) the number of applications returned to registered bodies and (f) the number of total disclosures issued. [112046]

Paul Goggins: The following table details a breakdown of the total number of disclosures received and cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) in three weeks, six weeks and nine weeks since March 2002, up to the end of April 2003. Not all the information sought by the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam is available in the format requested. There are no IT procedures at present to differentiate between Standard and Enhanced Disclosures that are outstanding and figures representing the breakdown of those applications that were outstanding for longer than three, six and nine weeks are not available any earlier than November 2002.

Disclosures received and issued by month

		(e)	(b)(i)	(b)(ii)	(f)
	Net receipts	Returned to organisation	Standard disclosures issued	Enhanced disclosures issued	Total disclosures issued
March 2002	2,306	459	22	20	42
April 2002	34,301	5,412	409	2,389	2,798
May 2002	82,821	5,044	2,070	17,376	19,446
June 2002	88,442	1,762	4,315	30,585	34,900
July 2002	134,206	25,187	12,828	76,258	89,086
August 2002	129,049	14,981	14,116	96,295	110,411
September 2002	185,153	19,715	16,613	118,505	135,118
October 2002	208,784	18,556	22,620	159,226	181,846
November 2002	171,893	15,570	23,257	159,199	182,456
December 2002	138,454	13,330	22,347	148,707	171,054
January 2003	144,538	16,330	18,251	152,442	170,693
February 2003	161,286	16,938	20,816	142,330	163,146
March 2003	174,832	20,667	21,814	158,915	180,729
April 2003	151,676	18,602	19,700	140,259	159,959
Total	1,807,741	192,553	199,178	1,402,506	1,601,684

21 May 2003 : Column 867W

	(d)(A)	(d)(B)	(d)(C)	(c)
	0–3 weeks	3–6 weeks	Over 6 weeks	Total
November 2002	77,147	47,152	139,232	263,531
December 2002	59,960	39,009	152,365	251,334
January 2003	78,782	13,796	133,861	226,439
February 2003	83,574	25,409	91,789	200,772
March 2003	88,326	20,128	69,822	178,276
April 2003	76,299	20,807	21,147	118,253

In order to process a Disclosure application the CRB requires a correctly completed application form. Where forms are incomplete or incorrectly completed, they are returned to the applicant or to the Registered Body.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Criminal Records Bureau has commissioned a review of the code provided by Capita. [112098]

Paul Goggins: To date, the Criminal Records Bureau has not commissioned a review of the code provided by Capita and there are no current plans to do so in the future.

Departmental Pay

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Answer of 8 April 2003, Official Report, column 208W, on departmental pay, if he will place a copy of his action plan in the Library. [112322]

Mr. Blunkett: The Home Office has submitted its Equal Pay action plan to Cabinet Office for consideration and will place a copy of that plan in the Library once any arising discussions with Cabinet Office have been concluded.

Devolution

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with officials from the devolved administrations in (a) Scotland and (b) Wales concerning their support for umbrella registered bodies. [112038]

Paul Goggins: Home Office officials are in regular contact with their counterparts in the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales about a variety of matters relating to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Disclosure Scotland, including support for umbrella registered bodies to help facilitate access to the Disclosure service by voluntary organisations. We are

21 May 2003 : Column 868W

exploring with the CRB's Voluntary and Community Sector Working Group cost-effective ways of improving access to the Disclosure service by voluntary organisations in England.

Drug Addicts (Rehabilitation)

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the level of rehabilitation treatment available for (a) heroin addicts and (b) crack cocaine addicts after custodial sentences have been served for drug related crimes. [113744]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The Government's Updated Drug Strategy recognises the need for effective Throughcare and Aftercare for substance misusers leaving treatment or prison. A comprehensive programme of interventions is being implemented to address the treatment needs of drug misusing offenders at every point of contact in the criminal justice system.

The Prison Service programme Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare services (CARATs) offers comprehensive assessments of prisoners with drug problems todetermine individual needs during custody and on release.

Aftercare and rehabilitation have become part of the package of care for substance misusers leaving treatment or prison.Those recovering from addiction or other drug related problems will be given the support and help to meet their needs.

Regular assessments are made of the availability and quality of drug treatment at a local level, including treatment for ex-prisoners, by the National Treatment Agency (NTA). It has been given the authority to set standards and monitor both the commissioning and delivery of drug treatment, so that by 2008 we will have doubled the capacity and be in a position to treat 200,000 problematic drug users each year.

---