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19 Apr 2004 : Column 324W—continued
Gurkhas
Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to the answer of 15 January 2004, Official Report, columns 886–7W, on Gurkhas, what progress has been made on the review of immigration laws as applied to Gurkhas. [164339]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 29 March 2004]: Officials in the Home Office, Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office have continued their work to find a satisfactory and sustainable way forward. A further meeting took place on 30 March and officials will report to Ministers shortly.
Lancashire Police Authority
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by how much in (a) percentage and (b) cash terms Lancashire police grant has increased in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement on the financial position of Lancashire Police Authority. [156129]
Ms Blears: The information is set out in the table.
| General Government grants(112) (£ million) | Annual percentage change in general Government grants | Specific grants and capital provision(113) (£ million) | Total (£ million) | Annual percentage change in all Government grants | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 146.9 | — | 2.2 | 149.1 | — |
| 1998–99 | 153.6 | 4.6 | 2.4 | 156.0 | 4.6 |
| 1999–2000 | 155.9 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 158.1 | 1.3 |
| 2000–01 | 162.2 | 4.0 | 6.6 | 168.8 | 6.8 |
| 2001–02 | 168.1 | 3.6 | 18.2 | 186.3 | 10.4 |
| 2001–02(114) | 164.0 | — | 18.2 | 182.2 | — |
| 2002–03 | 168.7 | 2.9 | 15.1 | 183.8 | 09 |
| 2003–04 | 177.1 | 4.9 | 15.4 | 192.5 | 47 |
| 2004–05 | 182.9 | 3.3 | 15.8 | 198.7 | 32 |
1 General Government grants comprise Home Office Police grant, ODPM Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates.
2 Includes funding from the Crime Fighting Fund, Rural Policing Fund, Basic Command Unit funding, Street Crime Initiative, Community Support Officer funding, Special Priority Payments, the DNA Expansion Programme, capital grant, Airwave and the Premises Improvement Fund. Total for specific grants in 2004–05 are an estimate.
3 Figures for 2001–02 are not directly comparable with 2002–03 due to the change in funding arrangements of NCS/NCIS. Adjusted figures for 2001–02 are therefore included.
Lancashire Police Authority have set a final budget of £229.5 million for 2004–05, and increase of £12.7 million or 5.9 per cent. over this year.
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons he rejected the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in his report, ref.C.923/03 relating to the complaint of a constituent, ref.R333021/2. [164679]
Mr. Browne: We have not rejected the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Ombudsman made only one formal recommendation in this case—that if Mr. Colman's constituent made an application for British Citizenship it should be considered promptly. The Ombudsman has been informed that such an application will be considered in accordance with the rules and in the light of individual circumstances. So far, no application has been received.
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to his Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) Ordinary Written and (b) Named Day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157741]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office does not maintain records in such a way that provides the information in the format requested without incurring disproportionate cost. The last published performance figures for the Home Office showed that 39 per cent. of all Parliamentary Questions (PQs) were answered within parliamentary deadlines.
Every effort is made to reply to PQs within the parliamentary deadlines wherever possible. Consequently the Home Office is currently in the process of introducing a new PQ system, the electronic Parliamentary Questions system (ePQS) to better monitor and manage the Department's performance.
The ePQS monitoring system has identified the bottlenecks in the PQ process and remedial action is being taken. As is usual with the introduction of any new IT system, performance has shown an initial decline. The benefits of ePQS are now being realised across the Department and performance is improving.
Police Pensions
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at what age police officers are able to retire on a full pension; and if he will make a statement. [165478]
Ms Blears:
Under the current Police Pension Scheme officers may build up a maximum pension after 30 years' service. This means that an officer who joined the police service at age 18½—the earliest age at which it is possible to start as a police officer—could be entitled to retire at age 48½ with a full pension.
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The Government are considering options for the modernisation of police pensions to make them more flexible and affordable for future entrants. We have concluded a UK-wide consultation exercise on proposals for a new police pension scheme, to be introduced by April 2006, and are considering the responses. Key features of the proposed scheme for new entrants are a maximum pension after 35 years and a minimum pension age of 55.
Prisons
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours on average adult prisoners spent on (a) education, broken down by (i) literacy, (ii) numeracy and (iii) other education-related activities, (b) exercise, (c) vocational work and (d) community work in the last year for which figures are available. [161789]
Paul Goggins: The average number of hours for each activity is as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| (a) | |
| Education | 3.4 |
| (b) | |
| Exercise | 2.0 |
| (c) | |
| Vocational work | 1.6 |
| (d) | |
| Voluntary work | 0.2 |
| (e) | |
| Time spent in work/workshops | 12.1 |
In spite of the considerable population pressures the average time spent on purposeful activity is 23.1 hours per week.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of the movement of all prisoners from the two prisons that have been re-roled. [166424]
Paul Goggins: No final date has yet been fixed for the re-role of Edmunds Hill prison and so no women prisoners have been moved.
The cost of moving prisoners from Winchester prison totalled £5,550.00.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the prisoners who were moved from the two prisons that have been re-roled were informed they were being moved; and whether notification was given to their families. [166425]
Paul Goggins: The re-role of Her Majesty's Prison Winchester West Hill has taken place. Prisoners were informed on 11 March that they would be moving to other establishments. All prisoners were able to inform their families that they would be moving. The moves took place between 15 and 25 March.
The re-role of Her Majesty's Prison Edmunds Hill has not yet taken place. It is anticipated that prisoners will transfer out from June 2004. Prisoners there know of the
19 Apr 2004 : Column 327W
re-role, and, in the case of those prisoners who will still be in custody in June 2004, discussions about future destinations have begun.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women prisoners have been transferred from the two prisons that have been re-roled; what the length of the sentences they had left to serve were on the date of transfer; and to which prisons they were transferred. [166346]
Paul Goggins: Her Majesty's Prison Edmund's Hill has not yet been re-roled, and no final date has been set. Three of the female prisoners held at the West Hill Wing of Her Majesty's Prison Winchester were released before the transfers took place, as they had reached the end of their custodial sentences.
Table 1 shows the destinations of the remaining prisoners.
| Destination establishment | Number transferred |
|---|---|
| Her Majesty's Prison Eastwood Park | 19 |
| Her Majesty's Prison Foston Hall | 1 |
| Her Majesty's Prison Downview | 11 |
| Her Majesty's Prison Send | 40 |
| Her Majesty's Prison Askham Grange | 1 |
Table 2 shows the length of time these prisoners had remaining on their transfer date.
| Length of sentence remaining | Number of prisoners |
|---|---|
| Convicted but unsentenced | 1 |
| Less than 12 months | 32 |
| One to four years | 29 |
| Four years or more | 10 |
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in recording allegations and incidents of threatening and intimidating behaviour of staff towards prisoners at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs; how the incidents are broken down for statistical analysis; and what the figures are for incidents in the last three years for which figures are available. [155658]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 2 March 2004]: The Investigation Support Section of the Prison Service Professional Standards Unit monitors all incidents in the prison service that result in formal investigations being commissioned. The main categories of investigations that record unprofessional behaviour of staff towards prisoners are racist abuse, inappropriate treatment of prisoners and assault on prisoners.
Monthly reports are prepared for Governors and Area Managers that include, for each prison; numbers of investigations carried out, categories of investigations, overdue investigations and emerging themes.
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Wormwood Scrubs operates systems to ensure that any complaints of mistreatment from prisoners are referred to the Deputy Governor, who decides whether to commission a full investigation under the Prison Service Code of Discipline or conduct a simple inquiry for more minor issues. The Race Relations co-ordinator also reviews data from a wide range of sources to establish if any ethnic minority group is disproportionately represented. For the last three years, the number of complaints from prisoners within the above categories that resulted in investigations being commissioned at Wormwood Scrubs were:
| Simple inquiries | Disciplinary investigations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 49 | 30 |
| 2002–03 | 44 | 32 |
| 2003–04(112) | 27 | 21 |
1 As at 11 February 2004.
Additionally, annual reviews are conducted by staff from the London Area Office to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring arrangements concerning treatment of prisoners by staff in each London prison. These reviews also seek assurance that local arrangements for acting on any allegations of mistreatment by prisoners, from any source, are consistent with prison service policy and that any subsequent investigations are conducted in a timely and consistent manner.
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