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Prison Officers (Industrial Action)

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking in response to the decison by prison officers across the United Kingdom to take industrial action in support of their Northern Ireland colleagues. [147196]

Paul Goggins: Following detailed negotiations, the dispute between the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Prison Officers' Association (POA) has been successfully resolved as a result, the threat of industrial action by POA members in England and Wales has been lifted.

Prisons

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to tackle bullying of prisoners by other inmates. [149101]

Paul Goggins: Prison Service Order 1702, Anti-Bullying Strategy, contains mandatory instructions to Governors to ensure that all prisons implement and maintain locally an appropriate, advertised anti-bullying strategy. The strategy must aim to prevent bullying behaviour and to address it constructively where it occurs.

It is mandatory for establishments to appoint an anti-bullying co-ordinator, who is responsible for monitoring that the nature and extent of bullying in the prison. They examine a number of factors including the number of requests to move wing and the number of applications to the Independent Monitoring Board, number of assaults. They are obliged to complete at least once every two years.

22 Jan 2004 : Column 1441W

Unless the prison is particularly small, it is expected that establishments set up a multi-disciplinary anti-bullying committee that meets regularly and makes links with other related areas such as suicide prevention or the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme.

Reducing violence, in all its forms, is fundamental to the objectives of the Prison Service. By constructively and consistently taking action to prevent violence and promote fairness and decency, prisons can offer a structured environment in which to influence future behaviour, encourage positive communication and develop social skills that assist offenders with rehabilitation. Further, maintaining a safe environment reduces stress and anxiety, and promotes individual, organisational and public confidence.

Problems of inter-prisoner violence and bullying are being addressed through development of a Service-wide Violence Reduction Strategy. By the summer of 2004, each prison will have in place a local violence reduction strategy appropriate to needs. Intranet toolkits will help establishments to develop practical solutions, including environmental and physical measures as well as alternatives for behaviour management. Specific issues such as racism, substance misuse, violence, verbal abuse and various types of bullying will be covered with good practice examples. A whole prison approach will be encouraged, with the aim of reducing violence and fear of violence. A focus on personal safety, supporting victims, and repairing the physical and emotional harm caused by violence or abuse, will link closely with the suicide prevention strategy.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost is of keeping someone in prison per day. [148886]

Paul Goggins: The average cost per day of each prisoner during the financial year 2002–03 was £99.36. This figure covers the whole of the prison system, including public sector and contracted prisons, as well as an element of headquarters overheads.

The cost per prisoner varies according to the security of each prison establishment and other factors such as the gender and age of the prisoner. The range of daily costs for 2002–03 was £119 to £54, with the highest being for the High Security estate and the lowest for the Category C estate, which tends to hold a more settled population.

Rehabilitation Programmes

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what number and what percentage of short-term prisoners completed a fast track rehabilitation programme during their time in prison in each of the last five years; and what plans he has to increase this percentage over the next two years. [148908]

Paul Goggins: Information is not collected specifically on treatment provision by length of stay in prison. There is currently no system to "fast track" prisoners onto rehabilitation programmes. A short duration drug treatment programme is to be piloted in April 04, giving access to short term and remand prisoners. Detoxification is available immediately on reception into prison.

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The Street Crime Initiative makes provision for prisoners to be fast tracked into drug treatment interventions. This includes CARAT services (Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice & Throughcare), as well as detoxification. From April-November 2003, 2,453 prisoners were referred to CARATs. Of those, 1951 were appropriate referrals, 1,807 received an initial assessment and 898 received detoxification.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to extend the FOR rehabilitation programme which ran in South Wales to other areas. [148909]

Paul Goggins: The FOR resettlement programme for short-term prisoners is currently in development and being piloted in two establishments. The Prison Service will be seeking the advice of the Correctional Service Accreditation Panel on the programme and will take decisions about extending it to other areas in the light of the advice provided and resourcing available.

Scottish Police

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Scottish police officers are seconded to or are serving in a permanent capacity with UK-wide police bodies. [147524]

Mrs. McGuire: I have been asked to reply.

There are 23 Scottish police officers on secondment to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Information is not held centrally on the number of Scottish officers seconded to or serving in other UK-wide police bodies such as the Police Information Technology Organisation and the Police Scientific Development Branch.

Terrestrial Trunked Radio

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research into the health and safety issues of terrestrial trunked radio his Department has collated since July 2001. [149196]

Ms Blears: On the recommendation of independent experts, the Home Office set up a comprehensive programme of work on TETRA health issues. The Home Office also funds TETRA-related research as an adjunct to the Mobile Telecommunications Research Programme co-ordinated by the Department of Health.

TETRA was found to have no effect on calcium exchanges in cells—the main concern of the Stewart report. Independent checks confirm that TETRA equipment fully conforms with health and safety regulations. Longer-term human volunteer studies are under way.

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will commission further research into the health and safety issues of terrestrial trunked radio masts. [149197]

Ms Blears: The Government have no plans to commission any further research into the effects of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) masts.

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The National Radiological Protection Board's independent Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR) has recently published a report on "Health effects from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields". The report confirms that there is no reason to believe that signals from TETRA base stations should be treated differently from those from other base stations. The AGNIR experts do not suggest any further research on TETRA masts.

Independent checks of the TETRA masts used by the new police radiocommunications system, Airwave, have confirmed that they fully comply with international health and safety guidelines.

Young Offender Institutions

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children in (a) Stoke Heath and (b) Onley Young Offender Institutions have been placed in the segregation units of those Institutions since January; and for how long in each case. [144360]

Paul Goggins: Data on the number of children held in segregation at Stoke Heath and Onley Young Offender Institutions from January to November 2003 are shown in the following tables. This has been split to show the number of times the segregation unit was used for (a) less than seven days, (b) for longer than seven days and (c) for longer than 28 days during this period.

Data on Stoke Heath Young Offender Institution in 2003

	Number of Juveniles
Month—2003	Held for less than 7 days	Held for longer than7 days	Held for longer than28 days
January	19	7	0
February	17	8	0
March	15	7	0
April	6	13	0
May	9	7	0
June	11	6	0
July	13	8	0
August	8	0	0
September	8	7	0
October	2	18	0
November	0	10	0

Data on Onley Young Offender Institution in 2003

	Number of Juveniles
Month—2003	Held for less than 7 days	Held for longer than7 days	Held for longer than28 days
January	10	3	0
February	24	0	0
March	17	0	0
April	13	2	1
May	43	8	0
June	12	8	0
July	21	9	0
August	11	9	0
September	9	12	0
October	28	39	1
November	17	7	0

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are made to provide juvenile female prisoners with clothing. [144366]

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Paul Goggins: All young women under the age of 18 in custody wear their own clothing. However, every young woman received into custody automatically receives items of underwear and nightwear. If a young woman does arrive in custody with insufficient clothing she will be given additional clothing provided by the establishment.

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