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6 Nov 2003 : Column 751W—continued
Prison Officers
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time prison officers were employed by Her Majesty's Prison Service in the East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 September in each of the last three years. [136469]
Paul Goggins: There are two prisons managed by Her Majesty's Prison Service (public sector prisons) in the East Riding of Yorkshire: Everthorpe and Hull prisons. Information on full-time officers employed at these prisons in each of the last three years is shown in the table.
| Full time officers in post | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Establishment | 1 September 2003 | 1 September 2002 | 1 September 2001 |
| HMP Everthorpe | 124 | 120 | 125 |
| HMP Hull | 342 | 307 | 242 |
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Officers include prison officers, senior officers and principal officers.
Prison Population
Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage change in the prison population has been in each of the last 10 years; and what the percentage change in numbers of prison officers has been in each year in the same period. [129604]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is given in the following table. Figures are for England and Wales. Figures exclude those in privately managed prisons.
| Year(as at end March) | Percentage change in prison population compared to previous year | Percentage change in number of prison officers compared to previous year |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 10.3 | -1 .5 |
| 1995 | 4.4 | 2.0 |
| 1996 | 4.4 | 0.7 |
| 1997 | 10.0 | -5.5 |
| 1998 | 7.8 | 1.7 |
| 1999 | -2.5 | 1.8 |
| 2000 | 0.4 | 0.9 |
| 2001 | -0.6 | -1.3 |
| 2002 | 6.2 | -3.0 |
| 2003 | 4.6 | 2.3 |
Witnesses
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps are being taken to maximise the number of witnesses to crime who (a) come forward and (b) stay with a case to its conclusion. [134054]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 23 October 2003]: The Government published in July this year a national strategy to deliver improved services to victims and witnesses. It recognises that ensuring witnesses come forward and give evidence in court is essential for the effective administration of justice.
The Criminal Procedure (Attendance of Witnesses) Act 1965 and the Magistrates' Court Act 1980 already provide for a witness summons to be issued if the court is satisfied that the witness is likely to be able to give or produce material evidence but will not do so voluntarily. On 3 October we published a consultation paper and invited responses by 2 January 2004 to a proposal to introduce a greater element of compulsion in securing the attendance of witnesses in court.
The Government have introduced a range of special measures to assist vulnerable witnesses to give their evidence in court, including video recording, live links, the use of intermediaries and communication aids. The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 provides the legislative framework for these measures and a phased implementation programme began on 24 July 2002.
6 Nov 2003 : Column 753W
Pilot projects to maximise the number of witnesses coming forward and staying with the case are currently operating on a local basis and the Government have agreed to support these financially. For example:
- The West Mercia Constabulary is engaged on a project to examine the reasons why some witnesses are reluctant to report crime and to test the effectiveness of a single point of contact (a "one stop shop") as a way of regularly updating witnesses on the progress of their cases.
The Warwickshire Police is piloting the co-location of police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff dealing with witnesses and integrated information technology.
The Metropolitan Police is piloting better co-ordination of the arrangements, both within and between criminal justice agencies, of the arrangements for dealing with witnesses.
The pilots directly support the criminal justice system's Public Service Agreement (PSA) target of narrowing the justice gap, reducing ineffective hearings and raising public confidence. They also complement two other key criminal justice initiatives—the CPS/ACPO Charging Programme and the Effective Trial Management Programme.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Education and Business Links
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will take steps to seek to improve school leavers' understanding of the business environment. [136615]
Mr. Miliband: We are already taking steps for this goal. The introduction of work-related learning in September 2004 as a statutory requirement at Key Stage 4 for 14 to 16 year-olds will help improve pupils' understanding of the diversity and function of business and its contribution to national prosperity. As part of this, from 2005 all Key Stage 4 pupils will be offered the equivalent of five days' enterprise activity which will develop enterprise capability. This will add to their existing learning opportunities through the PSHE and citizenship curriculum and activities such as work experience placements, industry days and employer mentoring schemes.
Education Provision(Bath and North East Somerset)
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the schools in Bath and North East Somerset which have benefited significantly from the Government's capital initiatives since 1997. [136319]
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Mr. Miliband: All schools in Bath and North East Somerset have benefited significantly from capital investment, as we introduced Devolved formula capital for all schools in 2000–01. For a typical primary school of 250 pupils this is worth £21,900 in 2003–04, rising to £25,500 in 2005–06. A typical secondary of 1,000 pupils would receive £74,900 in 2003–04, rising to £87,250 in 2005–06.
As the majority of capital funding is now allocated to local education authorities by formula, so that they can fund locally agreed priorities, the Department does not collect detailed information about the work carried out. This should be held locally. Overall capital investment is set to rise from £3.8 billion this year to over £5 billion in 2005–06, compared with under £700 million in 1996–97.
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will estimate how many support staff were employed by schools in Bath and North East Somerset in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003. [136333]
Mr. Miliband: Support staff numbers in maintained schools in England by local authority are shown in table 19 of the Schools Workforce in England statistical first release (SFR) of 9 September 2003. A copy of this SFR has been placed in the Library. The table is also available on the statistics section of the DfES website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000411/index.shtml
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time equivalent teachers there were in Bath and North East Somerset in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) 2003. [136334]
Mr. Miliband: Full-time equivalent teacher numbers in maintained schools in England by local authority are shown in table 15 of the Schools Workforce in England statistical first release (SFR) of 9 September 2003. A copy of this SFR has been placed in the Library. The table is also available on the statistics section of the DfES website at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000411/index.shtml
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what proportion of 15-year-olds in Bath and North East Somerset in 2002–03 entered for GCSE or equivalent examinations; [136340]
- (2) what proportion of 15-year-olds in Bath and North East Somerset in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 1997–98 achieved (a) five or more A*-C GCSE grades and (b) one or more GCSE passes. [136341]
Mr. Miliband: The statistical information for Bath and North East Somerset requested in the two questions 136340 and 136341 is detailed in the table:
| Percentage of: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Year | 15-year-old pupils who entered for1 or more GCSE/GNVQ | 15-year-olds achieving 5 or more grades A*-C GCSE/GNVQ | 15-year-olds achieving 1 or more grades A*-G GCSE/GNVQ | |
| 1997 | 96.4 | 51.3 | 95.3 | |
| 1998 | 97.2 | 53.2 | 96.5 | |
| 2003 (provisional) | 97.1 | 59.7 | 95.9 | |
6 Nov 2003 : Column 755W
Education Provision (East Riding)
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary teacher vacancies there were in the East Riding of Yorkshire on 31 October of each year since 1997. [136058]
Mr. Miliband: Vacancy data as at October are not collected. The following table shows teacher vacancies in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire at January of each year.
| Nursery and Primary | Secondary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 1 | 0 |
| 1999 | 4 | 0 |
| 2000 | 2 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 | 6 |
| 2002 | 12 | 12 |
| 2003 | 0 | 5 |
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the average class sizes of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Haltemprice and Howden for the current academic year. [136060]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Figures on average class sizes for primary and secondary schools for this academic year are not yet available. Monitoring of all class sizes is carried out via the information collected in the Annual Schools Census in January of each year.
As at January 2003, the average sizes of classes taught by one teacher in primary schools and secondary schools in Haltemprice and Howden were 26.8 and 22.2 respectively.
The national figures for primary and secondary schools were 26.3 and 21.9 respectively.
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