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17 May 2004 : Column 784W—continued

Piracy

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests were made on charges of piracy in the UK in 2003. [170058]

Ms Blears: Information collected centrally is based on persons arrested for 'notifiable' offences within main offence groups only, and as such it does not separately identify piracy offences in the "Other" offence group within which they fall.

Prison Officers

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent consideration he has given to the awarding of a long-service medal to prison officers employed in prisons in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement. [162647]

Paul Goggins: There are no plans to introduce a Long Service Medal specifically for prison officers employed in prisons in England and Wales. Prison Officers, along with all other staff employed by the Prison Service, receive a 25 Year Long Service Award.

Prisoners

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners who had been sentenced for more than 10 years were (a) in Category C conditions and (b) in open conditions on (i) 31 March and (ii) 31 March in each of the last five years. [168027]

Paul Goggins: The number of prisoners sentenced to 10 years or more, including life sentence prisoners, that were in (a) Category C conditions and (b) open conditions on 31 March 2004 and 31 March in each of the previous four years is given in the table. Information for 31 March 1999 is not available and hence data has instead been provided for 30 June 1999.
 
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Prisoners sentenced to 10 years or more

Category C conditionsOpen conditions
20042,879747
20031,660668
20021,890641
20011,748574
20001,472565
19991,515511

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are projected to be given a custodial sentence in each of the next 12 months. [168030]

Paul Goggins: The number of offenders sentenced to custody each month is not one of the totals contained within the prison population projections. Projections of   the prison population under various sentencing scenarios, and the details of these scenarios, are published in the monthly Prison Population Brief.

Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of prisoners were reconvicted of subsequent offences having served a sentence (a) under 12 months, (b) 12 months to under four years and (c) four years or over in each of the last 10 years. [169091]

Paul Goggins: Figures for the number and percentage of prisoners reconvicted within two years of discharge from prison are given in Prison Statistics, England and Wales, 1997–2002. Table 9.3 shows reconviction rates for samples of discharged prisoners in that year. To make a full comparison of reconviction rates over time it is necessary to control for changes in the characteristics of discharged prisoners, such as age and previous criminal history, which are strongly associated with reconviction rates.

Prisons

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the judgment in the case of Mr. David McGee; and what plans he has to amend prison regulations. [170403]

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service is considering the decision of the court in this case and whether any change to the Prison Act might be appropriate.

Private Finance Initiative

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the National Assembly for Wales Government about the use of Private Finance Initiative by North Wales police (a) for refurbishment and replacement of police stations and (b) generally. [170319]

Ms Blears [holding answer 4 May 2004]: I met Welsh Assembly Minister Edwina Hart AM last year to discuss funding of Welsh police forces generally. My officials have also had discussions with their counterparts in the Assembly regarding Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes and more generally on Welsh police funding.North Wales police currently have one PFI scheme approved for the divisional HQ at St. Asaph,
 
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which is under construction. Another scheme put forward by the force is under consideration, jointly by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Home Office.

Welsh PFI schemes need the approval of the Welsh Assembly Government, as they are responsible for providing the annual revenue grant on the service charge.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the use of Private Finance Initiative in relation to capital investment for use of modernising police stations in North Wales. [170320]

Ms Blears [holding answer 4 May 2004]: The Government support the use of Private Finance to help deliver modern police facilities in England and Wales. One Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme has been approved for the divisional HQ at St. Asaph in North Wales and is under construction. A second scheme put forward by the North Wales Police is currently under consideration.

All Welsh PFI schemes also need approval by the Welsh Assembly Government, which provides revenue grant on the annual service charges for approved schemes.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much each police force in England and Wales has spent through Private Finance Initiative (a) on refurbishment and replacement of police stations and (b) in total. [170322]

Ms Blears [holding answer 4 May 2004]: The cost incurred by each police force in England and Wales on   refurbishment and replacement of police stations through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is not held centrally.

As a guide to the volume of PFI schemes, I list in the following table schemes for which grant support has been approved as at 1 April 2004:
£ million

Police authorityPFI credits(30)
Cleveland/Durham11.000
Cumbria(31)7.500
Derbyshire(31)3.774
Derbyshire(31)23.917
Dorset(31)24.300
Dyfed-Powys(31)5.300
Gloucestershire(31)26.200
Kent(31)23.600
Norfolk(31)36.300
Northumbria1.881
Nottinghamshire21.460
Thames Valley(31)10.406
Wiltshire3.053
North Wales(31)19.623
Cheshire(31)45.000
Sussex39.250
Greater Manchester(31)63.000
Wiltshire23.979
Total389.543


(30) PFI credits represent the capital element within the overall project. They form the basis of annual revenue grant support towards the unitary service charge payable by the police authority to the service operator.
(31) Denotes schemes that include police stations.



 
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Public Sector Workers (Assaults)

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent representations he has received on introducing an offence of assaulting a public sector worker in the course of their duty; and if he will make a statement. [169451]

Paul Goggins: Assaulting a public sector worker in the course of his or her duty is an extremely serious matter. Magistrates courts' guidelines emphasise that assault against "a victim serving the public" should be considered an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes. The Sentencing Guidelines Council will draft a new set of consolidated sentencing guidelines for use in all criminal courts. We anticipate this would similarly include references to whether the victim was at the time of the offence working with the public. We believe this is the right way to deal with such offences.

The most recent representations we have received on introducing an offence of assaulting a public sector worker in the course of their duty was from the British Parking Association, who wanted a specific offence of assaulting a parking attendant.

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