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10 Nov 2003 : Column 94W—continued

Corporate Killing

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out his timetable for introducing legislation to tackle corporate killing. [130923]

Paul Goggins: The Government has made a commitment to publish firm proposals for reforming the law on corporate manslaughter before the end of the year. A Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to publish the draft Bill on corporate manslaughter; and if he will make a statement. [132581]

Paul Goggins: A Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The Government have made a commitment to publish draft proposals for reforming the law on corporate manslaughter before the end of the year.

Correspondence

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received a copy of a letter dated 25 September from UK Visas, concerning the case of Jaswinder Singh (ECR88274102S); and when he will inform the Foreign Office of the outcome of this case. [134922]

Mr. Mullin: I have been asked to reply.

UK Visas's letter of 25 September was not passed to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary since this referred to an entry clearance matter, which is primarily a Foreign and Commonwealth Office matter.

It is not our practice to disclose details of individual entry clearance cases in a public forum. I am withholding the information requested about the outcome of this case under exemption 5 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. However, I will shortly write to my hon. Friend with regard to this matter.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Yeovil on 7 October. [136571]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 5 November 2003]: My hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) wrote to hon. Member on 4 November 2003.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 2 September from the Member for Banff and Buchan to the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston regarding his constituent, Mrs. N. Cook, of Ash Recruitment Services. [136758]

Beverley Hughes: I apologise to the hon. Member that he was not kept informed of progress in replying to his letter. Initially it was unclear whether the response should come from the Home Office, or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). However, this letter has since been accepted by the FCO who will reply shortly.

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Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter of 9 September from the Member for Banff and Buchan to the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston concerning HIV testing of asylum seekers. [136760]

Beverley Hughes: My hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) wrote to the hon. Member on 6 November 2003.

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letters of 25 October 2001 and 17 July 2002 from the hon. Member for Beaconsfield. [137094]

Beverley Hughes: I replied to the hon. Member on 15 August 2002.

Crime Statistics

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for trends in robbery in Nottinghamshire between December 2001 and 2002. [136245]

Ms Blears: There was an increase in robbery across England and Wales in 2001–02, which occurred principally in urban areas. Nottinghamshire was one of the areas affected. According to Home Office research, the increase in robbery over this period is attributable to several factors, in particular, the rise in the number of young people robbing other young people allied to the sharp increase in mobile phone ownership providing easy targets for offenders. While Nottinghamshire was not one of the areas that the research drew data from, it aimed to consider a sufficiently large sample to gain an impression of the nature of robbery in different areas of England and Wales. On 14 October 2002, the Home Office published figures for the first six months of the Street Crime Initiative (April to September 2002), which showed that there had been 19 per cent. more robberies in Nottinghamshire in the six-month period April to September 2002 compared to the same period in 2001. By the end of the year, the increase had reduced to 3 per cent. (comparing the 12-month period with the previous year).

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what trends there have been in the level of street crime in the areas targeted by the Street Crime Initiative since December 2002. [136246]

Ms Blears: The Home Office Statistical Bulletin, "Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update to June 2003", published on 16 October 2003, shows that recorded robbery fell by an estimated seven per cent. in April to June 2003 compared with the same period in the previous year. This quarterly update does not give figures for individual forces. Data for individual forces will be available in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin for the financial year 2003–04, expected to be published in the summer of 2004.

The latest published figures for individual forces relate to 2002–03, published in July. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 16 September 2003, Official Report, column 674W.

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Crime Victims

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to develop a list of services to victims of crime which are available from the (a) probation and (b) prison service. [135489]

Paul Goggins: General information about the National Probation Service's (NPS) statutory victim contact scheme is already available on the probation service website at www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk and in the Home Office leaflet: "Release of Prisoners: Information for victims of sexual or other violent offences". The leaflet is free and is available in a range of languages and is given, by the police, to victims who are eligible for the statutory scheme. The leaflet also contains information about the Prison Service Victims' Helpline and the services available from Victim Support. More detailed information about probation service work with victims can be obtained from local probation area offices. There are no plans to develop or publish a separate list of services for victims of crime available from either service as this information is already in the public domain.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 1 September 2003, Official Report, column 961W, how many disclosures were issued each month; and what the average length of time was it took each month to issue them. [129438]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 11 September 2003]: The information requested is shown in the table:

Issued by month and average turnaround times

Month	Standard disclosures issued	Enhanced disclosures issued	Total disclosures issued	Average turnaround time
March 2002	22	20	42	(10)—
April 2002	409	2,389	2,798	19.91
May 2002	2,070	17,376	19,446	25.57
June 2002	4,315	30,585	34,900	33.91
July 2002	12,828	76,258	89,086	20.48
August 2002	14,116	96,295	110,411	26.22
September 2002	16,613	118,505	135,118	31.98
October 2002	22,620	159,226	181,846	30.25
November 2002	23,257	159,199	182,456	34.22
December 2002	22,347	148,707	171,054	34.29
January 2003	18,251	152,442	170,693	45.54
February 2003	20,816	142,330	163,146	40.45
March 2003	21,814	158,915	180,729	33.00
April 2003	19,700	140,259	159,959	22.03
May 2003	19,535	139,962	159,497	23.54
June 2003	23,644	152,363	176,007	25.39
July 2003	28,388	196,538	224,926	25.11
Total	270,745	1,891,369	2,162,114	29.49

⁽¹⁰⁾ No data

The figures show the Criminal Records Bureau's steadily improving performance in recent months as regards turnaround times and output. The increase in July's turnaround time figure can be attributed to a surge in applications during the last two weeks in June in advance of the increase in fees taking effect.

The Criminal Records Bureau received approximately 50,000 more applications than its usual intake during this period. While this increase in applications temporarily

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increased the turnaround times for applications, the Criminal Records Bureau has continued to meet its standard of service targets.

Custody (Deaths)

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what steps he is taking to ensure that families whose children have died in custody are informed of developments in investigations; [135788]

(2) what measures are in place to prevent death of young people in custody. [135790]

Paul Goggins: All deaths in prison custody are subject to a police investigation and a coroner's inquest before a jury, in which the family can be involved. The Prison Service conducts an internal investigation and is currently trialling new guidelines designed to incorporate independence and ensure greater participation of the family, for example, by commenting on the terms of reference of the investigation and having discussions with members of the investigatory team.

In the case of a juvenile death (15–17 year-old) it is the practice to invite the Youth Justice Board (YJB), social services and either the Chief Inspector of Prisons or the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to advise the investigation. More generally I am considering whether from a future date the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman should provide independent scrutiny of all deaths in prison custody. Families may interact more readily with an independent investigator.

The Prison Service, in conjunction with the Youth Justice Board, Social Services Inspectorate, the Chief Inspector of Prisons and Social Services has just completed a review of "safeguarding" arrangements within the Juvenile Estate. Safeguarding is an inclusive approach to the care of juveniles in custody and includes suicide prevention and self-harm management anti-bullying, child protection, anti-discrimination and an overall holistic approach to care in custody. This Child Protection and Safeguards Review also considered the role of other statutory agencies in light of the High Court judgement by Lord Justice Munby in November 2002, which judged that the Children's Act 1989 applies to children in custody. The results of the review, which will include considerations and recommendations at strategic and local levels to further improve the service which can offered to juveniles in custody, are to be published in the New Year, and a copy placed in the House Library.

As you will be aware from my earlier Answer (133050 and 133052), the YJB has fully embraced the Prison Service safer custody strategy (which is applicable to all prisoners, regardless of gender and age). This strategy includes a series of inter-related projects to improve pre-reception, reception and induction arrangements; inter-agency information exchange; prisoner care; or the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman to advise the investigation. More generally I am considering whether

from a future date the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman should provide independent scrutiny of all deaths in prison custody. Families may interact more readily with an independent investigator. The Prison Service, in conjunction with the Youth Justice Board, Social Services Inspectorate, the Chief Inspector of

10 Nov 2003 : Column 98W

Prisons and Social Services has just completed a review of "safeguarding" arrangements within the Juvenile Estate. Safeguarding is an inclusive approach to the care of juveniles in custody and includes suicide prevention and self-harm management anti-bullying, child protection, anti-discrimination and an overall holistic approach to care in custody. This Child Protection and Safeguards Review also considered the role of other statutory agencies in light of the High Court judgement by Lord Justice Munby in November 2002, which judged that the Children's Act 1989 applies to children in custody. The results of the review, which will include considerations and recommendations at strategic and local levels to further improve the service which can offered to juveniles in custody, are to be published in the New Year, and a copy placed in the House Library.

As you will be aware from my earlier Answer (133050 and 133052), the YJB has fully embraced the Prison Service safer custody strategy (which is applicable to all prisoners, regardless of gender and age). This strategy includes a series of inter-related projects to improve pre-reception, reception and induction arrangements; inter-agency information exchange; prisoner care; detoxification; prisoner peer support, and the learning from investigations into deaths in custody. There is also a programme piloted in six establishments, including Feltham young offender institution which holds young offenders and juveniles, which has invested £21.69 million over the three year programme from April 2001 on improvements to areas such as reception and induction.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will establish a departmental investigation into each death in custody of a young person in prison in the past ten years. [135789]

Paul Goggins: I have no current plans further to review these deaths. More generally I am considering whether from a future date the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman should provide independent scrutiny of all deaths in prison custody.

All deaths in prison custody are subject to a police investigation and a coroner's inquest before a jury. From August 1998 there has been a mandatory requirement for an internal investigation to be commissioned into all apparent self-inflicted deaths in custody or "non-natural" causes. A clinical audit is undertaken in respect of a natural causes death in custody. It is now the practice in respect of juvenile death (15–17 year olds) in prison to invite the Youth Justice Board and social services to participate in the investigation.

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