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18 Jun 2003 : Column 264W—continued
Parole
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what his policy is in respect of making representations to (a) the Prison Service and (b) the Commissioner for Correction, concerning the exercise by the Parole Board of its judgements on parole; [117583]
- (2) on how many occasions since June 2001 he has made representations to the (a) Prisons Service and (b) Parole Board concerning the exercise of the Parole Board's judgment on parole decisions. [117587]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 9 June 2003]: Information is served on the Parole Board on behalf of the Secretary of State in every case which is referred to the Parole Board to consider an application for early release. All such information is served to the prisoner, save in special circumstances described below.
The Secretary of State has made no undisclosed representations to the Parole Board in respect of any individual case. Such action would undermine the transparency and fairness of the parole and early release process, as well as the independence of the Parole Board, which he considers an essential contribution to public confidence in the criminal justice system.
Under the Parole Board Rules 1997 (which apply to oral hearings of the Board) the parties to a parole hearing are the prisoner and the Secretary of State. Paragraph 5 of the Rules requires the Secretary of State to serve on the Board and on the prisoner, information relating to the prisoner, reports relating to the prisoner and such further information which he considers to be relevant to the case. This material takes the form of a dossier of reports from prison and probation staff, prison psychologists where appropriate, court and police reports at the time of the trial, and any other relevant information, including an assessment of risk which the prison may pose if released. Where the Parole Board decides that an oral hearing should take place, both parties are entitled to be represented at the hearing and to hear each other's evidence.
The same principles apply to paper reviews by the Board, and the information which is required to be put before the Board on behalf of the Secretary of State in these cases is set out in Prison Service Order 6000, a copy
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of which is in the Library. All material must be disclosed to the prisoner unless for reasons set out in the Order — which include risks to the health and welfare of others — disclosure is withheld.
From time to time my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary discusses the operation of the parole and early release system with officials. The Home Secretary has made no representations to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on the exercise by the Parole Board of its judgments on parole.
Passports
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Answer of 11 June 2003, Official Report, column 948W, on duplicate passports, how many current passports have been issued as second passports. [119952]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 17 June 2003]: The UK Passport Service (UKPS) does not routinely collate centrally figures relating to the issue of second passports. The information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Police Authority Attendance Allowance
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was paid in attendance allowances to members of police authorities in England and Wales in each of the last 10 municipal years; and how much he estimates will be allocated in the current municipal year. [118744]
Ms Blears: The Police Act 1996 provided for the reimbursement of expenses and allowances by police authorities to their members from within their own budget (schedule 2, paragraph 25 and schedule 2A, paragraph 20). Payment was subject to any framework determined by the Secretary of State and approved by the Treasury. This framework was deregulated by virtue of section 107 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2002 which amended Schedule 2 of the 1996 Act to allow police authorities to develop their own local expenses and allowances schemes. The Home Office has never made direct payment to police authorities to cover the costs of allowances payable to police authority members and neither is there any power to require police authorities to provide this data to the Home Office. Accordingly, there is no central record held by the Department of the total costs borne by authorities in respect of such expenses and the cost of collecting this information from individual authorities would be prohibitive.
Prostitution
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests there have been on the grounds of prostitution in the last five years in (a) England and Wales, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Coventry. [119052]
Ms Blears: Information on the number of persons arrested for prostitution offences is not collected centrally within England and Wales.
Information relating to Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
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Matters related to Scotland are for the Scottish Executive.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategy is in place to reduce the number of (a) young people and (b) women at risk of (i) sexual exploitation and (ii) prostitution in England and Wales; and what studies he has made of other EU states' strategies for the reduction of prostitution and the protection of (A) young people and (B) women from such exploitation. [119053]
Beverley Hughes: The Government are taking a range of measures to address the involvement of young people and adult women involved in prostitution.
The Sexual Offences Bill, currently before Parliament, will strengthen the legal framework for tackling the commercial sexual exploitation of adults and children and trafficking for this purpose, both within the United Kingdom and internationally. The provisions covering children will protect them up to the age of 18 and cover buying sexual services from a child, recruitment, control in prostitution or pornography, causing, inciting, arranging or facilitating child prostitution or pornography. The maximum penalties will range from seven years to life imprisonment depending on the age of the child and the activity involved.
The offences in the Bill will help fulfil the requirements of European Union Framework Decisions on Combating Trafficking of Human Beings and the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography, which the United Kingdom were actively involved in negotiating.
In May 2000, the Government published "Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution". This guidance is aimed at all agencies that come into contact with children involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in, prostitution. It sets out a multi-agency approach, based on local protocols. It is issued pursuant to the Government's child protection guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children".
In September 2001, the Government published the "National Plan for Safeguarding Children from Commercial Sexual Exploitation", in preparation for the Second World Congress on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Yokohama, Japan in December 2001. The plan forms an important part of the Government's drive to improve safeguards for children. It focuses on those children who are induced or coerced into unlawful sexual activities for the commercial advantage of others. It explains what the Government, the devolved administrations and partner agencies are doing and are planning to do, looking at both UK-based and international sexual exploitation of children.
In addition, the Home Office recently funded 11 prostitution initiatives as part of the "What Works: Tackling Prostitution" scheme, funded by the Crime Reduction Programme. These projects seek to develop and inform us of successful strategies for dealing with and managing the nuisance caused by the activities of prostitutes, the behaviour of those involved in the exploitation of others and ways of supporting those involved in prostitution who wish to exit the trade. Reports will be available later this year.
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With respect to children at risk of being drawn into prostitution or other commercial sexual exploitation, an assessment of the child's individual needs will be undertaken in accordance with the "Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (2000)". This assessment should be followed by consideration of how best to address the identified needs of the child and the development of a care plan.
For individual children already in prostitution, assistance and support should be provided by local statutory services in response to identified needs, whether directly or through specialist agencies. Child victims of commercial sexual exploitation are likely to be in need of welfare services and, in many cases, protection under the Children Act 1989. Social services have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of these children following an assessment of their circumstances.
Where there is a risk to the life of a child or a likelihood of serious harm, an agency with statutory child protection powers, such as the police or councils with social services responsibilities, should act quickly to secure the immediate safety of the child. In some cases, it may be necessary to ensure either that the child remains in, or is removed to, a safe place. Under s.20 of the Children Act 1989, a local authority may provide accommodation for any child within its area if it considers that this would safeguard or promote the child's welfare.
The Government are extremely concerned about the Mafia-style criminality associated with the exploitation of girls and women, the links between prostitution and drug dependency, and the way in which prostitution can blight local communities. There is a great deal of work to be done to establish how best to break the links between the sex trade and organised crime, to help those who are exploited to leave prostitution, and to support local communities to develop effective neighbourhood regeneration schemes. This is a complex area. As announced in 'Protecting the Public', published in November 2002 [Cm 5668] we are examining the scope for a review of the issues surrounding prostitution and the exploitation, organised criminality and class A drug abuse associated with it.
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