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19 Apr 2004 : Column 105W—continued
Naturalisation Applications
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the current estimated time for processing a naturalisation application is. [164271]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 29 March 2004]: At the end of December 2003 the average waiting time for naturalisation applications was 5.45 months.
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date those who participated in the first British citizenship naturalisation ceremony made their applications for naturalisation; and how long processing took. [164272]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 29 March 2004]: All those who participated in the first ceremony applied from various dates after 1 January 2004 and their applications were decided in time for the ceremony on 26 February 2004.
Offender Statistics/Supervision
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men aged over 65 years and (b) women aged over 60 years are in prison (i) on remand and (ii) after sentence. [165389]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is given in the table.
| Remand | Sentenced | |
|---|---|---|
| Men aged 65 and over | 53 | 712 |
| Women aged 60 and over | 5 | 21 |
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether information on those deemed high or very high risk, who are covered by multi-agency public protection panels, is routinely passed on by mental health authorities. [165185]
Paul Goggins: The multi-agency public protection arrangements (the MAPPA), have helped promote the sharing of information between health professionals, police and probation. To strengthen these arrangements, and to ensure that appropriate information sharing takes place, a duty to co-operate with the MAPPA authorities has been placed on various health bodies including mental health trusts.
Open Prisons
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the prisoners held in (a) Sudbury open prison and (b) other open prisons in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04 were originally classified as (A) Category A, (B) Category B, (C) Category C and (D) Category D prisoners. [148876]
Paul Goggins:
The number of prisoners in (a) Sudbury and (b) other adult male open prisons at 30 June 2002 and 2003, by their original classification on entry into the prison estate, is given in the table.
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| Sudbury open prison | Other adult male open prisons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2003 | 2002 | 2003 | |
| A | 12 | 9 | 44 | 51 |
| B | 118 | 136 | 424 | 482 |
| C | 269 | 278 | 1.15 | 1.59 |
| D | 48 | 33 | 1.31 | 1.21 |
Paedophilia
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women are serving sentences for paedophilia convictions. [164044]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 26 March 2004]: Child sex offenders can be included in a number of different Prison Service offence codes. The Prison Service does not have a specific offence code to cover paedophiles, and hence information on the number of persons who are serving sentences having been convicted of child sex offences is unavailable.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women of Afro-Caribbean origin are in jail for paedophilia. [164045]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 26 March 2004]: Child sex offenders can be included in a number of different Prison Service offence codes. The Prison Service does not have a specific offence code to cover paedophiles, and hence information on the number of persons who are serving sentences having been convicted of child sex offences is unavailable.
Parental Imprisonment
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what efforts his Department is making to reduce the impact of parental imprisonment on children aged under 16 years. [165138]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 1 April 2004]: The Prison Service recognises that the imprisonment of a parent can have a significant impact on their children. The training programme for new prison officers includes a module to raise awareness of the needs of such children. The Prison Service is also developing a pilot partnership programme with the Lankelly Foundation and the Ormiston Children and Families Trust, to offer a comprehensive package of services and support to the families of prisoners. This work will take place in prisons, as well as in the wider community, and will include work with other agencies such as education, health and social services.
Specific projects include: development of and improvements to visitors' centres; creation of family liaison officer posts within prisons; training for local staff who come into contact with families; community support services; enhanced children's visits programmes; support for alternative contact for children who do not visit; family awareness programmes; parenting from prison courses; post-release support; information to families; and research.
Police
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional funding is made
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available to North Yorkshire Police for policing (a) in Menwith Hills, (b) in Fylingdales and (c) during royal visits. [163557]
Ms Blears: Since September 11, all police forces have been able to bid for additional funding for various counter terrorist activities, including the protection of vulnerable sites. Given the nature of the funding, publicity is not being given to the activities it covers or what has been allocated to individual forces. The hon. Member can be assured that North Yorkshire have been receiving financial assistance for the Government for security policing at RAF Fylingdales and Menwith Hill.
In addition to this the force has been provided with special grants totalling £1.1 million between 2001 and 2004, as a contribution to the extra cost of policing protests at Menwith Hill and Fylingdales.
Most police forces will have to police royal visits. We would therefore normally expect that they meet the extra cost from their own budget and general reserves.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers per 1,000 population there are (a) on establishment and (b) available for 24 hour duty without restriction in the Essex Constabulary. [164336]
Ms Blears: Information is not available in the form requested. As at 31 March 2003 the full time equivalent police officer strength per 100,000 population in the Essex Constabulary was 186 and the available for duty full time equivalent strength 183 per 100,000 population.
"Managing Offenders—Reducing Crime"
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date his Department received the report, "Managing Offenders—Reducing Crime". [163984]
Paul Goggins: The Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Chief Secretary to the Treasury received the report, "Managing Offenders—Reducing Crime", from Patrick Carter on 11 December 2003.
Prison Spaces
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional prison spaces he estimates will be needed beyond the summer of 2004; and what plans he has to build additional jails. [165187]
Paul Goggins: The Government expect to have around 79,500 places available by the end of 2005–06.
The reforms outlined in Reducing Crime Changing Lives aim to improve the management of offenders and reduce re-offending. As a result of these reforms, and other measures, it is intended that the prison population should remain at a figure of less than 80,000 by 2009.
Two new private sector prisons providing 1,290 places are currently under construction and due to open at Ashford (near Heathrow) and Peterborough on 17 June 2004 and 28 March 2005 respectively.
We continue to investigate options for providing further increases in capacity over the coming years and as part of the Government's modernisation strategy.
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This is based on a combination of expanding capacity in existing prisons and a programme to build new large multi-functional prisons.
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