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National Offender Management Service

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will monitor the work of the Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service. [152837]

Paul Goggins: The Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service, Martin Narey, will be accountable directly to Ministers for reducing re- offending and for the efficient operation of public sector providers.

Parliamentary Questions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will answer (a) the Questions with reference numbers 143057 and 143063 tabled by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham on 4 December 2003 and (b) Question number 144992, tabled on 15 December 2003; [151036]

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(2) when he will answer the Question, reference no.145030, tabled by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham on 15 December 2003. [151033]

Fiona Mactaggart: The hon. Member received answers to the questions highlighted above on the following dates: 143057 on 20 January and 144992 on 26 January from my right hon. Friend Beverly Hughes; 143063 on 9 February from my hon. Friend Hazel Blears and 145030 on 10 February from my hon. Friend Paul Goggins.

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the question reference 145289 on women prisoners tabled by the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South on 16 December 2003. [154626]

Paul Goggins: I replied to the hon. Member on 9 February 2004, Official Report, column 1292W.

Police Cells

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new prison cells are to be built in Lancashire, broken down by prison. [153504]

Paul Goggins: There are plans to build new prison cells at Wymott prison in Lancashire. Building work is in progress and is expected to be completed by mid-2004. There are also proposals to build new prison cells at Garth prison. Planning clearance for this site is currently being sought. The information requested is provided in the table.

Prison	Number of new cells to be built	Expected date of completion
Garth	180	2005
Wymott	180	2004

Prisoners

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on prison resources directed at the rehabilitation of prisoners aged 25 years and under. [152756]

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service does not collate information separately on resources directed at rehabilitation for adult prisoners aged 25 and under. The Government have invested extra funds in improving regimes for prisoners and in programmes that will assist rehabilitation and resettlement. These include offending behaviour programmes, drug treatment programmes, education to improve basic and key work skills and the Custody to Work initiative which seeks to increase the number of prisoners getting jobs or education or training places after release.

In the Spending Review 2000 settlement additional funding of £162 million was allocated over the period 2001–02 to 2003–04 to strengthen work on resettlement and rehabilitation. In addition the funding for education and training for prisoners rose from £57 million in 2001–02 to £66 million in 2002–03 and £97 million in 2003–04.

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The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is responsible for the commissioning and purchasing of all secure accommodation for under 18-year-olds. Under an annual service level agreement between the YJB and the Prison Service, the aim of the juvenile establishments is to provide a full and active day, with 30 hours a week purposeful activity, including good quality education and training provision while in custody. The present level of funding supporting education is approximately £17 million.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to extend the pilot assessment and treatment programmes at HMP Whitemoor, HMP Frankland, and Broadmoor and Rampton hospitals to other prisons in the UK. [152838]

Paul Goggins: We have no plans at present to extend the assessment and treatment programmes to other prisons in the UK. Before any decisions about the future development of services can be taken, more time is needed to evaluate the work of the pilot sites.

Prisons

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) budgeted and (b) expected final costs are for the construction of HM Prison Bromsfield. [152706]

Paul Goggins: The prison under construction at Ashford, Middlesex is called HMP Bronzefield.

The prison is being procured through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Under the PFI process the overall contract price is fixed and includes both current construction and future operational costs. It will be paid back to the contractor as part of a unitary charge payable from when the prison opens in June 2004. It is the contractor who bears the risk of ensuring that its costs do not exceed its budget.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people held in prison are the subject of a deportation order, broken down by sex. [154177]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 10 February 2004]: The Prison Service does not record information on deportation orders on the inmate information system. Information on the number of persons held in prison who are the subject of a deportation order is not therefore available except by examination of individual case-files, at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women are serving sentences of 12 months or less. [154178]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 10 February 2004]: On 30 November 2003 there were 773 women serving sentences of 12 months or less in prisons in England and Wales.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons are being considered for closure. [152704]

Paul Goggins: The Home Office is working on a value for money case for a replacement programme to create a new generation of larger prisons with the facilities needed to deliver effective programmes designed to

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reduce re-offending. New large prisons could also provide economies of scale, which would allow us to close some smaller prisons and redirect resources to community punishments. This case will be subject of discussion in the forthcoming Spending Review, the outcome of which will be published.

There is an established procedure for the announcement of decisions to change the role of or close prisons. Once Ministers take a decision to change the role of or close a prison, staff and local MPs affected by the change or closure are briefed before the formal announcement.

Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that all prisons holding foreign nationals have in place (a) relevant policies and practices and (b) a foreign national co-ordinator employed to address the specific needs of the group of prisoners including (i) pre-release support, (ii) links to home country and family and (iii) procedures to manage deportation or repatriation. [151081]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 26 January 2004]: All Prison Service policies are required to have taken account of the needs of minority groups of prisoners including foreign nationals.

All Prisons have a race relations officers and a race relations management team responsible for the implementation of race relations locally and the fair treatment of ethnic minorities. Some prisons with larger numbers of foreign national prisoners have appointed a member of staff to work specifically to address their needs.

Pre-release support and links to their home country are managed as part of the normal sentence planning process, which applies to all prisoners serving over 12 months in prison.

The procedures used to manage deportation or repatriation are the same as those for any foreign national who has been refused entry to this country. The exception to this are the procedures for early departure provided by the Early Removal Scheme, as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Probation Service

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many employees the National Probation Directorate has had in each year since 2000. [151191]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 27 January 2004]: The information requested is as follows.

Precise data prior to 2001 is not available, as the National Probation Directorate (NPD) was not established until April 2001. Records show that there were approximately 100 staff in November 2001, and 202 in November 2002.

In March 2003, the NPD had 360 employees, and 444 in December 2003. By April 2004 this total will have been reduced to 335.

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The NPD provides a range of support (including finance and estates) to all 42 probation areas. This enables local areas to focus on operational issues and the reduction of reoffending.

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