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5 Jan 2004 : Column 12W—continued
Juvenile Offenders
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many juvenile prisoners have been refused early release on home detention curfew because they had no suitable accommodation in each of the last 12 months. [144353]
Paul Goggins: Data on the reasons for juvenile prisoners being refused early release on home detention curfew are not collected centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been transferred out of secure training centres to prisons for reasons of bad behaviour in each of the last 12 months. [144354]
Paul Goggins: The following table shows the number of juveniles transferred from Secure Training Centres to Young Offender Institutions for reasons of bad behaviour in each of the last 12 months.
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| Month | Number of children transferred |
|---|---|
| December 2002 | 0 |
| 2003 | |
| January | 1 |
| February | 3 |
| March | 3 |
| April | 4 |
| May | 0 |
| June | 0 |
| July | 5 |
| August | 5 |
| September | 1 |
| October | 4 |
| November | 2 |
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on the use of special cells in young offender institutions; and if he will place copies in the Library. [144362]
Paul Goggins: The Home Office has only received letters from Amnesty International regarding the use of solitary confinement for juveniles. These letters are private correspondence and cannot be placed in the Library without the consent of the originator.
Paedophiles
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convictions there have been of paedophiles as a result of photographs taken of children at (a) school nativity plays, (b) school sports days, (c) other community based sport activities, (d) school drama and cultural activities and (e) other community based drama and cultural activities in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [143950]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 16 December 2003]: The information requested is not available centrally.
There is no definitive list of offences relating to paedophilia. The information collected centrally simply relates to a range of offences (including those involving direct contact with the victims and others that do not) against victims of a variety of ages, some of which span the legal age of consent to sexual activity, and details of the nature of the offences are not collected.
Prison Education
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent progress has been made in improving adult prisoner (a) literacy and (b) numeracy. [142923]
Paul Goggins: Since April 2003, prisoners have achieved around 28,000 qualifications in literacy, language and numeracy. At this rate, the 2003–04 target of 36,600 qualifications will be exceeded by March 2004. As a result prisons have been set an ambitious but achievable target of 60,000 basic skills qualifications for 2004–05.
Prisons (Suicide Prevention)
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the budgets of
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HM Prison Service establishments holding females has been specifically dedicated to suicide prevention in each of the past 10 years. [142891]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Service's efforts to reduce the numbers of self-inflicted deaths in prisons are supported by a number of broader strategies for which money is allocated at a national level. It is not, therefore possible to identify the resources that have been allocated to suicide prevention specifically.
A proactive three-year programme to develop policies and practices to reduce prisoner suicide and manage self-harm in prisons commenced in April 2001. The main principles of the strategy apply across all types of prisons and prisoners whether male or female. An investment of over £21 million through the three-year programme is enabling physical improvements (now 75 per cent. complete) to be made at six 'Safer Local' pilot sites, one of which is the women's prison and YOI Eastwood Park. At Eastwood Park where there is a centrally funded Project Manager, £1.5 million has been dedicated to Reception and the Healthcare Centre, while a further £1.5 million is being spent on installing safer cells (cells which contain specially designed furniture and fixtures which are manufactured and installed to make the attachment of ligatures very difficult).
A targeted and separate suicide prevention and self-harm management strategy is being developed specifically for women prisoners. In addition £1 million from the Department of Health has been allocated to the Women's Estate to be spent on the recruitment of psychiatric nurses, and 11 out of the 17 prisons for women now have mental health in-reach facilities.
Brockhill, Eastwood Park, Holloway, New Hall and Styal prisons were among the first establishments to have full-time, dedicated Suicide Prevention Co-ordinators (SPCs). All women's prisons now have a designated full-time or part-time SPC. All women's establishments deliver suicide awareness training to staff.
Sexual Offences
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on (a) offences for which sexual activity in public lavatories may be prosecuted and (b) the suitability of those offences for dealing with such behaviour. [143478]
Paul Goggins: Sexual activity in public lavatories will be covered by a specific new offence in section 71 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Persons engaging in such activity may also commit the existing common law offence of outraging public decency or an offence under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. The Government believe that sexual activity in public lavatories is unacceptable and the new offence will cover any activity that:
- "a reasonable person would, in all the circumstances but regardless of any person's purpose, consider to be sexual".
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The new offence will not require that someone should be caused "alarm, distress, or offence" by the activity, which is a requirement of section 5 of the Public Order Act. Similarly, the common law offence contains a requirement that the conduct must be lewd, obscene or disgusting. While it is a requirement that it should not be inordinate, the common law offence does not have a maximum penalty and so could be used to prosecute more serious cases where the conduct is particularly unacceptable. This offence has been made triable summarily, as well on indictment, by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which should give greater flexibility in its use.
Terrorism
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost to date has been of detaining suspects held under Part 4 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001. [144583]
Paul Goggins: The approximate cost from 19 December 2001 to 16 December 2003 of detaining those held under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 is £905,000.
The cost of holding a detainee in prison is equivalent to the cost of holding a prisoner in the same establishment.
Unregistered Ships
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been stopped trying to enter the United Kingdom on unregistered ships in each of the last 10 years. [140672]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not available and could be obtained only by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
Women Prisoners
Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that gender specific suicide and self-harm figures are (a) reported to Parliament and (b) monitored by the Women's Estate Policy Unit. [144541]
Paul Goggins: Women's Estate Policy Unit monitor female prisoner suicide and self-harm figures, and will be producing a report for 2003–04 which will be lodged in the Library.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under HM Prison Service's plans to manage the Women's Prison Estate geographically instead of functionally (a) what safeguards will be put in place to ensure that the needs of women prisoners are responded to appropriately, (b) what steps he will take to ensure that the budget set aside for the operational group remains ring-fenced for work with women in prison and (c) what specialist staff, with particular reference to those with skills and experience in suicide and self-harm prevention, mental health and detoxification for women will be maintained. [141621]
Paul Goggins: The Director of Operations will formally take responsibility for the Women's Estate from 1 January 2004 in order to facilitate a smooth
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transfer to the new arrangements on 1 April 2004. The Prison Service will retain a dedicated policy and management group to ensure that the needs of women prisoners are met across the prisons estate. The Director of Operations will hold responsibility for the work of that group which will be headed by a senior operational manager who reports directly to him. The new management structure will be appropriately funded to reflect the particular needs of women in custody.
The details of the staffing arrangements for the new structure are still being worked out but the women's policy and management group will include specialist staff with knowledge and skills in the prevention of suicide and self-harm and in the treatment of drug abuse and mental illness.
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of children under 18 years of age whose mothers are in prison, where the mother is the child's primary carer. [141625]
Paul Goggins: The most recent information available on this matter is derived from a survey of 301 white and Afro-Caribbean (or mixed-race) female prisoners who were drug users. This survey was carried out in 2001 and published in 2003. It showed that 70 per cent. (211) had children under the age of 18. Between them, the 211 mothers had 473 children. This suggests that, for every female prisoner, there are roughly 1.5 children in the community. The same survey also indicates that, prior to going to prison, 60 per cent. of the female prisoners who were mothers had been looking after their children at home.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to survey the women's prison population to determine prisoners' home locations in order to facilitate resettlement. [142887]
Paul Goggins: I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to a Question from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Redcar (Vera Baird) on 8 December 2003 (141620).
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Government's strategy is for improving the level of support available to prisoners who have been victims of (a) domestic violence and (b) sexual abuse. [142888]
Paul Goggins: A range of support is offered to prisoners who report that they have been victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. This includes: individual support and/or counselling; the provision of advice or information; and referral to appropriate outside agencies.
The Prison Service is currently seeking to improve the level of support offered. The specific initiatives include drawing up good practice principles for support services; developing links with community agencies and ensuring that assessment of risk is included in the sentence planning process.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in extending the First Night in Custody Project from HMP Holloway to all female prison establishments. [142896]
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Paul Goggins: The First Night in Custody Project at Holloway prison is part of a range of interventions across the women's prisons estate designed to reduce levels of suicide and self-harm as well as provide support and advice for women with a range of family, housing and other personal issues. These interventions are focused on prisons with a local function. There is no single model; the way in which the programme is delivered reflects local needs and circumstances, but important lessons have been learned from the Holloway project.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the female prisoners who committed suicide had previously been identified as at risk through the use of the HM Prison Service form F2052SH in each of the past four years. [142897]
Paul Goggins: All of the women who took their own lives in prison from 1 January 1999 up to 8 December 2003 had been on an open F2052SH (self-harm at risk form) at some point during their period of imprisonment. The number of these women who were on an open F2052SH at the times of their deaths is shown in the following table.
| Calendar year | Number of female self-inflicted deaths (SIDs)(6) | Number of female SIDs on an open F2052SH at the times of their deaths | Proportion of female SIDs on an open F2052SH at the times of their deaths (per cent.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 5 | 2 | 40 |
| 2000 | 8 | 3 | 38 |
| 2001 | 6 | 4 | 67 |
| 2002 | 9 | 3 | 33 |
| 2003(7) | 14 | 9 | 64 |
| Total | 42 | 21 | 50 |
(6) The Prison Service employs the term 'self-inflicted death' rather than 'suicide'. This includes all those deaths where it appears the person may have acted specifically to take his/her own life
(7) To 8 December 2003
The general prison population, and the women's estate in particular, contains a very large number of prisoners exhibiting a combination of factors which raise their risk of suicide: these include psychiatric disorders, relationship problems, previous abuse and family background problems; and histories of self-harm, drug and alcohol abuse and homelessness. As women tend to be the primary carers in their families, concerns about child care arrangements and associated issues also come to the fore with imprisonment.
Any member of staff who has cause for concern that a prisoner may be at-risk can open an F2052SH and it is mandatory to open an F2052SH following any incident of self-harm. The inherent vulnerability of many women in custody, combined with the high levels of self-harm in the women's estate, results in a very large number of women prisoners presenting themselves as requiring special care, and being made subject to F2052SH procedures. However, staff caring for women prisoners face exceptional difficulties in distinguishing between those women who are intensely vulnerable and those who may be actively suicidal.
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To address this issue, the F2052SH system is under review. The pilot of a replacement care planning system will begin in January 2004 at five establishments, one of which is the women's prison and YOI Low Newton. The potential replacement for the F2052SH aims to build on the successful aspects of the existing system, yet be more flexible and task teams of specially trained staff to assess the level of risk that at-risk prisoners present.
In parallel with the review of the F2052SH, information booklets and posters to improve staff understanding of the issues surrounding self-harm have been widely distributed, and detailed guidance for staff on how to manage and care for prisoners who self-harm, as well as a video discussing self-harm, are under development.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure (a) that women prisoners have equal access to bail information and (b) that the information available is consistent and accurate. [142898]
Paul Goggins: All the remand prisons in both the male and the female estate have bail information schemes through which all new remand prisoners are made aware of the help available. All female remand prisoners have equal access to bail information schemes and assistance in seeking bail.
Bail information schemes provide information to courts to assist with decisions on individual prisoner's bail applications. The information provided will therefore vary from prisoner to prisoner, but in each case the information must be verified as accurate before being sent to the court.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what counselling and support is available in women's prisons to assist prisoners who have been victims of (a) domestic violence and (b) sexual abuse. [142886]
Paul Goggins: A survey carried out by the Prison Service in 2003 demonstrates that a wide range of support is given across the prison estate to women who report that they have been abused. This includes offering women individual support and/or counselling; the provision of advice and information and referral to appropriate outside agencies. Individual establishments work closely with local community agencies with specialist expertise in abuse issues. The support offered to individual women who report that they have suffered any kind of abuse and have asked for help, will be determined following a full assessment of their needs.
The support offered varies between establishments and reflects local circumstances. The Prison Service is currently working with a small group of local practitioners, including both prison staff and voluntary agencies, to develop good practice principles so that consistency in the standard of support offered can be achieved. This work will be completed by March 2004 and will draw on a recently published literature review by Carol-Ann Hooper (2003), from the University of York on "Abuse, Interventions and Women in Prison".
In addition, examples of specific work being done for women who are the victims of domestic violence include working to help women avoid going back into
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circumstances that are high risk for violence when they are released and the provision in many establishments of posters/helpline information supplied by local domestic violence networks.
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