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28 Jan 2004 : Column 445W—continued

Prisons

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the review of prison industries conducted by the Prison Service has been completed; and if a copy of the review will be placed in the Library. [143294]

Paul Goggins: An internal review of the strategic oversight and management of public sector prison industries in England and Wales was completed earlier this year. The report of the prison industries review was written for internal discussion, and contains proposals for improving the way in which prison industries are operated and managed. These proposals are now being implemented. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people have been held in prisons in each year since 1997; [147355]

Paul Goggins: Information on the annual average population in prison and in police cells by type of custody is given in table 1.3 of Prison Statistics England and Wales, 1997 to 2002. Copies of Prison Statistics England and Wales are available in the Library.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to reduce prison overcrowding in the next two years. [147360]

Paul Goggins: On 6 January a radical reform of the management of offenders was announced with the publication of the document 'Reducing Crime—Changing Lives'. The overriding purpose of the reforms is to improve the management of offenders and reduce re-offending. Offenders for whom prison is the right penalty will continue to be sent to prison. But there are many offenders for whom tough non-custodial penalties will be more appropriate. Our proposals will provide sentencers with a full range of penalties and advice on what is most likely to be effective in reducing re-offending in particular circumstances.

Prostitution

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Government's policy is on the licensing of brothels. [150633]

28 Jan 2004 : Column 446W

Caroline Flint: It is an offence to keep or manage a brothel.

Reoffending

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of those who have undertaken the Intensive Change and Control Programmes in each year since 1997 reoffended within (a) one year, (b) two years, (c) three years, (d) four years and (e) five years. [147364]

Paul Goggins: The Intensive Control and Change Programme (ICCP) was launched on 3 April 2003. There have been 269 commencements to date, but since orders are made for 12 month periods no yearly reoffending statistics are available.

Retail Crime

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether separate statistics are kept on retail crime. [151350]

Ms Blears [holding answer 27 January 2004]: Currently, with the exception of a limited number of crime categories, such as 'theft from shops', which explicitly relate to retail crime—police recorded crime figures provide only a very limited picture of crimes experienced by the retail sector.

However, surveys such as the recent Commercial Victimisation Survey 2002 (a survey of over 6,500 retail and manufacturing premises) provide a fuller and more accurate picture of business crime, measuring both reported and unreported crime.

This survey captures statistics on crime experienced by businesses in the previous year, the cost of crime, concerns about problems and crime in the local area, action taken by businesses to respond to criminal incidents and their crime prevention precautions.

Provisional headline findings were released on 13 August 2003. The main findings should be published this spring.

Road Rage

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what data the Government collates on the average annual number of crimes committed as a result of road rage incidents. [148149]

Ms Blears: The requested information is not available centrally.

Young Offenders

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from Independent Monitoring Boards concerning the treatment of children in young offender institutions. [144363]

Paul Goggins: The treatment of children is mentioned in every Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Boards of Young Offenders Institutions. There were five specific questions asked of the Secretary of State during the 2002–03 reporting year.