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8 Jun 2004 : Column 329W—continued

New Prisons

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many new prisons have been commissioned since May 1997. [172408]

Paul Goggins: Nine new prisons have been commissioned in England and Wales since May 1997; seven are operating (Altcourse, Ashfield, Dovegate, Forest Bank, Lowdham Grange, Pare and Rye Hill) and two are under construction, Bronzefield (to open in June 2004) and Peterborough (to open in March 2005).

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new prisons are planned for England and Wales which will be opened within the next three years; where these prisons will be located; and if he will make a statement. [173290]

Paul Goggins: Two new private sector prisons providing 1,290 places are due to be opened within the next three years. Her Majesty's Prison Bronzefield at Ashford (near Heathrow), and Peterborough will open in June 2004 and March 2005 respectively.

Offender Management

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the performance testing programme for prisons will continue in its current form under the National Offender Management Service. [168397]

Paul Goggins: Market testing is only one mechanism for ensuring contestability, but it will remain an important one. As it will be some time before we can introduce full contestability through the regional offender managers' commissioning role it is likely that, in the short term, the majority of contracts with the public sector prisons will be agreed on a national basis.
 
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We expect the first market tests to begin in 2005–06. No decisions have yet been reached on how many prisons will be market tested in the first year, or how the competitions will be structured.

Policing/Crime Statistics (Preston)

Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what powers preventing racial harassment have been introduced since 1997; and how many times these powers have been used in Preston. [169693]

Fiona Mactaggart: Prior to 1997 the Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976 already prohibited discrimination on racial grounds. The RRA did not specifically refer to harassment, but it was clear from case law that racial harassment was a type of detriment capable of amounting to the kind of less favourable treatment prohibited by the Act.

As part of its fulfilment of its obligations under the EC Race Directive the UK amended the Race Relations Act 1976 (by virtue of the Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment) Regulations 2003) so as to make it unlawful to harass a person, on grounds of race or ethnic or national origins, in the areas of activity covered by the 1976 Act.

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created new and separate offences where the offences of causing fear and violence or of causing harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act 1986, or the offences of harassment or putting in fear of violence under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 were racially aggravated. Figures for the number of prosecutions in Preston for this type of offence are not centrally available. Lancashire police figures for harassment offences (published by the Home Office under the requirements of S95 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991) show a total of 717 recorded offences of this type in the Lancashire police area over the period 1999–2000 to 2001–02.

Prescoed Young Offenders Institute

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about the proposed transfer of prisoners convicted of sex offences to open conditions at Prescoed Young Offenders Institute; and if he will make a statement. [173621]

Paul Goggins: I have received a small number of representations from various organisations and individuals. I have endorsed the Prison Service's decision to allocate certain prisoners convicted of sexual offences, who are in their final stages in custody, to Her Majesty's Prison Prescoed. I have also undertaken to monitor progress closely.

Prisoners

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that no prisoner in England and Wales has to slop out at night. [172657]

Paul Goggins: All prisoners in normal location accommodation have access to sanitation by means of integral sanitation, electric unlocking, manual
 
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unlocking or open access. Where integral sanitation is not in place, sanitation pots are provided for use in certain circumstances, for example when there are electronic system failures, or where staff operating manual night unlocking are called upon to respond to unforeseen incidents.

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the prison population to reach 80,000. [168837]

Paul Goggins: The prison population cannot safely exceed the operational capacity of the Prison Service. On current plans the useable operational capacity of the Prison Service will be around 79,500 by the beginning of 2006. Prison Service funding for 2005–06 to 2007–08 will be considered as part of the current Spending Review.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women who are category A prisoners were being held in prison in England and Wales on 1 May. [173291]

Paul Goggins: On 1 May 2004, 951 males and seven females who were being held in prison in England and Wales, were classified as category A prisoners.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prisoners have taken part in the (a) core, (b) extended, (c) adapted and (d) booster prisoner rehabilitation programmes; how much each programme costs per prisoner; and what impact each programme has had on levels of re-offending; [171249]

(2) how many prisoners have taken part in the (a) Enhanced Thinking Skills, (b) Reasoning and Rehabilitation, (c) Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it, (d) Cognitive Self-Change Programme, (e) Cognitive Skills Booster Programme, (f) Healthy Relationships and (g) Prison Addressing Substance-Related Offending prisoner rehabilitation programmes; how much each programme costs per prisoner; and what impact each programme has had on levels of re-offending. [171252]

Paul Goggins: The following table gives information on the number of offending behaviour programmes that have been completed by prisoners in 2003–04. Costs vary between establishments depending on the level of security and staffing. An estimate of the average cost is provided.

Name of programme	Number of programmes completed by prisoners(11)	Average cost per completion (£000)(12)
Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) Core	496	7
SOTP Extended	103	7
SOTP Adapted	133	7
SOTP Booster	183	3.5
Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS)	6,120	2.25
Reasoning and Rehabilitation (R&R)	1,090	3
Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it (CALM)	335	3
Cognitive Self Change Programme (CSCP)	38	13.8
Cognitive Skills Booster Programme	160	2
Healthy Relationships Programme	28	7.8

⁽¹¹⁾ These are provisional figures. Final figures will not be available until the end of May 2004. These figures do not include prisoners who started but did not complete a programme. Prisoners may also have undertaken more than one programme.
⁽¹²⁾ The costs exclude one-off costs and overheads, and will vary between establishments.



 
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Information on Prison Addressing Substance-Related Offending is not yet available and I will write to the right hon. Member when it is. Details of the impact on the levels of re-offending for prisoners participating in ETS and R&R can be found in Home Office Research Findings Nos. 161, 206 and 226, and for SOTP core in No. 205. These can be found on the Home Office website. The levels of re-offending for prisoners participating in the other programmes are not yet available.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have taken part in the (a) RAPt, (b) Prison 12 Step, (c) Substance Treatment Order, (d) Action on Drugs, (e) FOCUS, (f) Ley Prison Programme and (g) North West Therapeutic Community prisoner rehabilitation programmes; how much each programme cost per prisoner; and what impact each programme has had on levels of reoffending. [171250]

Paul Goggins: Information on offending behaviour programmes has been collected centrally only since 2001–02. Information for 2003–04 has not yet been fully collated. Information broken down by each intensive drug rehabilitation programme is currently being collated, and I will write to the right hon. Member when this is available. The following table shows the number of prisoners entering intensive drug programmes for the two years for which figures are available.
Intensive drug rehabilitation programme entrants

	Number
2001–02	4,691
2002–03	4,386

Costs vary between programmes and establishments; and some costs are contained in existing baselines. The average cost per prisoner per programme is around £1,500.

Due to the need to wait two years for reconviction results, only a limited research base on the effectiveness of prison-based drug rehabilitation programmes in reducing re-offending is so far available. Emerging research into the RAPt programme is, however, showing encouraging results, with 40 per cent. of graduates, rather than a predicted 51 per cent., re-offending within two years. Such results underline the importance of effective throughcare arrangements and timely aftercare services in the community.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many babies have been removed, voluntarily or compulsorily, from their mothers in prison in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [172352]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 11 May 2004]: This information is not available centrally. However, most separations are only temporary for the period of imprisonment and all decisions are made in the best interests of the child.
 
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Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been held in police cells in each region of England and Wales under lock-out arrangements in the last 12 months; what the total cost of lock-outs was over this period; and what the average daily cost was. [172412]

Paul Goggins: The total number of lockouts in each escort contract area between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2004 is given in the table.

Area		Number of lockouts
l	South Wales and West	51
2	South and South East	12
3	Metropolitan Police District	10
4	East Anglia	153
5	West Midlands and Mid-Wales	45
6	Merseyside and North Wales	73
7	East Midlands and Humberside	263
8	The North	184
Total		791

As police forces charge retrospectively, it is not yet possible to give a final cost for lockouts for 2003–04. However, the average cost per prisoner per night is calculated as £120, which means that the total cost for this period has been estimated at £94,920.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether prisoners serving sentences in England and Wales are permitted to pay national insurance contributions; and if he will make a statement. [172399]

Paul Goggins: Prisoners do not usually earn over the threshold for national insurance contributions. However, they are not exempt from payments. They may also make voluntary contributions whilst in prison.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sentenced prisoners aged over 65 years were released from prisons in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available. [172407]

Paul Goggins: The number of sentenced prisoners aged 65 years and over, who were released from prisons in England and Wales in 2003, was 341.
 
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Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures are in place to deal with prisoners who complain of rape and sexual assault. [173133]

Paul Goggins: Prisoners who complain of rape or sexual assault are reporting an extremely serious assault. The prison would refer such a complaint to the police for investigation. The referral would either be through the local police liaison officer or directly to the local police.

The Prison Service would remain responsible for the aftercare of the prisoner and governors have available to them a range of specialist staff, including doctors and psychologists, to assist with this.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) average and (b) medium wage earned by prisoners in England and Wales was in the last year; and if he will make a statement. [172406]

Paul Goggins: The purpose of paying convicted prisoners is to encourage and reward their constructive participation in the regime of the establishment.

While the Prison Service sets minimum rates of pay, each prison has devolved responsibility to enable them to set their own pay rates, details of which are not held centrally. The current average wage is approximately £8 per week.

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