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9 Jun 2004 : Column 430W—continued
Parenting Courses
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision is available for parenting education courses within the prison system. [174789]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 21 May 2004]: Most prisons and Young Offender Institutions, and all juvenile establishments, offer courses in family literacy and parenting programmes. These form part of a Social and Life Skills programme which is accredited through the Open College Network. Some establishments also deliver family learning as part of their visits programme.
In addition, many parenting and family relationship courses have been introduced into prisons by voluntary or community-based organisations. We encourage providers to embed literacy and numeracy into these courses so offenders can achieve basic skills qualifications as well as gain important life skills in communications and parenting.
Police
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage change in full-time police officers in Stoke-on-Trent North has been since 1997. [177645]
Ms Blears: Information on strength at Basic Command Unit (BCU) level is collected annually and reflects the position at the end of March. Information on BCU strength is only available from 2002.
The Stoke-on-Trent North constituency is part of the Stoke-on-Trent Basic Command Unit (BCU). In March 2002 Stoke-on-Trent Division was 365 officers. The force has not provided any BCU data for March 2003. The deployment of officers to BCUs is a matter for the Chief Constable (John Giffard) and within the Stoke-on-Trent BCU deployment of officers is a matter for the Divisional Commander.
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At the end of December 2003 Staffordshire police had record strength of 2,253, which is 42 more officers than in March 1997.
Prison Governors
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison Governors in England and Wales are women; and if he will list the prisons. [174492]
Paul Goggins: There are 33 female senior operational managers in charge of Public Sector Prison Service establishments in England and Wales out of a total of 128 establishments. The establishments concerned are:
Establishments with Female Senior Operational Managers in Charge
Askham Grange
Blundeston
Brockhill
Buckley Hall
Bullingdon
Canterbury
Dartmoor
Dover
Everthorpe
Ford
Foston Hall
Haslar
Haverigg
Hewell Grange
Highdown
Edmunds Hill
Hindley
Huntercombe
Lancaster Farms
Lincoln
Littlehey
Liverpool
Maidstone
Moorland
New Hall
Onley
Rochester
Stafford
Stocken
Thorn Cross
Weare
Whatton
Winchester
Prisoners
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of prisoners (a) were dyslexic, (b) autistic and (c) had eating disorders on the latest date for which figures are available. [174960]
Paul Goggins:
Information is not collected centrally about the number and percentage of prisoners who are dyslexic, autistic or have eating disorders. Past research suggests that the proportion of prisoners suffering from dyslexia could range from four to over 17 per cent. A
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new prison dyslexia project, currently under way in Yorkshire and Humberside, is designed to provide an authoritative answer to the question of the incidence of dyslexia and related learning disabilities among the prison population. This report is expected at the end of the summer.
In a survey of mental ill health in the prison population undertaken by the Office for National Statistics in 1997, 6 per cent. of women prisoners reported having been diagnosed at some time in their lives with anorexia and 14 per cent. with bulimia.
It is possible that Autistic Spectrum Disorders among the prison population may be under-diagnosed. The Prison Service, Prison Health and the Youth Justice Board have jointly appointed a Programme Manager for Juvenile Health. This appointment is expected to lead, among other things, to a greater understanding of the nature and prevalence of all conditions—including autism—in the juvenile population. This in turn should lead to better diagnosis and assessment in individual cases and improved commissioning of appropriate services.
Prisons
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many basic skills (a) entry level, (b) level 2 and (c) level 3 places are available to prisoners at each (i) Prison Service establishment and (ii) privately run establishment. [174289]
Paul Goggins: We do not record this level of detail centrally. The number of basic skills places available to prisoners at entry level, level 1 and level 2 is informed by need, which is identified at induction and initial assessment. Each establishment is required to meet challenging targets at each of these levels. We are providing more money for prisons this year in order to generate additional capacity. The overall target for 2003–04 and 2004–05 and achievement for 2003–04 are given in the table.
| Target | Achievement | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04(26) | 36,631 (all levels) of which: | 46,517 (127%) of which: |
| 7,749 (entry) | 13,431 | |
| 14,462 (level 1) | 18,905 | |
| 14,420 (level 2) | 14,181 | |
| 2004–05 | 56,000 (all levels) of which: | |
| 16,970 (entry) | ||
| 23,430 (level 1) | ||
| 15,600 (level 2) |
(26) Provisional
Level 2 is equivalent to a GCSE grade A*-D. Prisoners have the opportunity to progress to higher levels through distance learning, for example through the Open University.
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Prison Service definition is of purposeful activity for prisoners. [174343]
Paul Goggins:
The purposeful activity measure is made up of 29 categories of activity undertaken by prisoners broadly comprising work, education, training, programmes to tackle offending behaviour, resettlement
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activity and physical education. Prisons report the total weekly purposeful activity hours they deliver by these categories of activity.
9 Jun 2004 : Column 434W
The following table shows a fuller description of all the activities that are drawn together to constitute the overall purposeful activity measure:
| Activity group | Activities include: |
|---|---|
| Education | |
| Induction assessment | Basic skills screening assessments |
| Basic and Key Skills up to Level 2 | All education categories can include private study or 'homework' by prisoners where this can be validated and an audit trail maintained |
| Education leading to accreditation | Education activity where prisoners are working towards a recognised qualification (but excluding education leading to basic skills qualifications categorised above) |
| Skills training leading to recognised national accreditation | Vocational construction and industrial training courses, e.g. industrial cleaning, catering, motor mechanics, office skills, hairdressing, painting, construction, electrical |
| Physical education | PE where physical education officers teach and supervise prisoners |
| Other education | Not categorised elsewhere, including library use of more than 30 minutes |
| Work | |
| Prison maintenance work | Support to works and maintenance staff around the prison |
| Wing cleaning work | Cleaning work on wings |
| Other prison cleaning and orderly work | Cleaning and orderly work around the prison other than on domestic wings |
| Industries/production workshops (PES Workshops on Regime Monitoring system) | Employment in production or industrial workshops such as textiles tailors, laundries, plastics, woodwork contract services etc. (Any workshop that is predominately production based) |
| Agricultural business | Employment in prison farms, market gardens |
| Gardens amenity | Employment on prison gardens |
| Kitchen | Preparation or serving of food in prison kitchens, hotplate/serveries or messes |
| Other occupations | Employment not categorised elsewhere (e.g. clothing exchange store workers, administrative clerks, barbers, paid community work) |
| Resettlement | |
| Induction | Prison induction courses |
| Maintaining safe and secure environment | Primary objective of activity relates to institutional behaviour, e.g. suicide awareness, anti-bullying |
| Sentence planning, parole interviews, other assessments with the prisoner not categorised elsewhere | Activity to define the composition of prisoner regimes |
| Accredited Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs) | KPI accredited courses |
| Non accredited OBPs | Any other programmes not categorised elsewhere |
| Tackling substance abuse | Interviews, assessments, individual or grouped drug or alcohol programmes, including CARATS assessments |
| IDPR | Inmate Development and Pre-Release training |
| Other resettlement and offending behaviour activity not covered | Probation, personal officer, PLU officer work. Job club and other employment advice. Accommodation advice or information. Specialist work, including probation or CAB |
| Family, social | Visits, earned community visits, compassionate licence |
| Temporary release on resettlement licence | Count up to eight hours per day if the time has not been categorised elsewhere |
| Other purposeful activities | |
| Health education clinics and promotion | Including, for example, well-man clinics and cancer awareness sessions but excluding medical treatment |
| Voluntary work | Including sessions with external agencies not covered elsewhere |
| Other facility licence not covered elsewhere | |
| Chaplaincy | All faith religious activities including services, classes, pastoral visits and organised prayers |
| Recreational sporting activities | Activities organised in addition to the establishment PE programme and supervised by non-PE staff |
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are employed and by whom in the delivery of Counselling Assessment, Referral, Advice and Through-care services in each (a) Prison Service establishment and (b) privately run establishment. [174345]
Paul Goggins: Information on the number of counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare service (CARATs) workers is not collected routinely and may be subject to change. A table showing a survey of prisons conducted in January 2004 has been placed in the Library.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Northern Irish prisoners held in prisons in England and Wales have been transferred to prisons in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years. [174487]
Paul Goggins:
In 2001, 18 prisoners were transferred from prisons in England and Wales to prisons in Northern Ireland; 10 prisoners were transferred in 2002. Because of population pressures in Northern Ireland only one prisoner was transferred in 2003. Nevertheless, applications are processed in the normal way and prisoners are transferred when a space becomes available.
9 Jun 2004 : Column 435W
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the open prisons in England and Wales for (a) males inmates and (b) female inmates. [174489]
Paul Goggins: The following prisons in England and Wales had open units for male inmates on 31 March 2004; Ford, Grendon/Spring Hill, Hewell Grange, Hollesley Bay, Kirkham, Leyhill, Moorland Open, North Sea Camp, Standford Hill, Sudbury, Thorn Cross, Usk/Prescoed and Wealstun.
The following prisons in England and Wales had open units for female inmates on 31 March 2004; Askham Grange and East Sutton Park.
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