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18 Jun 2004 : Column 1167W—continued
National Offender Management Service
Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the all-Wales probation board will be organised at a local level in the new National Offender Management Service. [175781]
Paul Goggins: While the precise arrangements in Wales have not yet been agreed, the National Offender Management Service will ensure that effective links with bodies such as Local Criminal Justice Boards, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, Drug Action Teams and local authorities, are maintained and developed. All Regional Offender Managers—including the offender manager for Wales—will be required to establish these links within their region and develop other community and neighbourhood networks as appropriate.
Police (Specialist Skills)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police officers are trained to handle digital evidence; [178503]
(2) how many police officers are (a) serving with computer crime units and (b) have higher level forensic skills. [178504]
Caroline Flint: The allocation of officers to computer crime units and the training of officers in these and other units in forensic investigation skills is a matter for individual chief officers. There are no centrally aggregated figures of these resources.
However, every police force in England and Wales has expertise in the recovery and analysis of forensic evidence. These skills are utilised in a variety of investigations. With regards to training officers who are not part of specialist units, there is a module included in the probationary training for all new police officers covering the internet and new technology. Centrex are also developing an online training package for existing officers.
18 Jun 2004 : Column 1168W
This month the Home Office has produced tactical guidance for managers of computer crime units within forces, which includes advice on running these units and practical guidance on procedures and tools for forensic analysis.
Prison Staff
Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received from the Prison Officers' Association regarding proposed changes to the uniform worn by staff in young offender institutions. [173396]
Paul Goggins: The Prison Officers' Association has objected formally to a Prison Service proposal to introduce a more relaxed style of uniform in establishments holding juveniles. Discussions to resolve the disagreement are continuing.
Prisoners
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) women and (b) men were being held in prison on 12 March; how many prisoners were released on early release on 12 March; how many prisoners were eligible for early release on 12 March; and how many prisoners were released on 12 March. [162199]
Paul Goggins: On 12 March 2004 there were 4,569 females and 70,451 males being held in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. There were an estimated 175 prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years whose Home Detention Curfew (HDC) eligibility date was 12 March 2004. On that date, 77 prisoners were actually released on HDC.
Some prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years do not quality for HDC because of the nature of their current or previous offences.
In addition, the figure of 175 will exclude a small number of prisoners in the population who were on remand at the time of the count, but were subsequently sentenced to a custodial sentence suitable for HOC and whose HOC eligibility date falls on 12 March 2004. This occurs when they have spent a significant period on remand.
A further 623 prisoners were discharged by other means on 12 March 2004, not including discharges following recall after release on licence, fine defaulters and non-criminals.
Prisons
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many life sentence prisoners have been released on parole in each month since January 1995. [171248]
Paul Goggins: Release details for all life sentence prisoners are only available in the monthly format requested from 1 April 2000 onwards. Information for the period 1995–99 is available only by calendar year.
The annual release figures for the calendar years 1995–99 are as follows.
18 Jun 2004 : Column 1169W
| Number (first time releases only) | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 92 |
| 1996 | 85 |
| 1997 | 98 |
| 1998 | 98 |
| 1999 | 122 |
The release details from 1 April 2000 onwards are shown in the table.
| Month | Year | Number of releases |
|---|---|---|
| April | (11)2000 | 8 |
| May | (11)2000 | 13 |
| June | (11)2000 | 19 |
| July | (11)2000 | 13 |
| August | (11)2000 | 4 |
| September | (11)2000 | 7 |
| October | (11)2000 | 8 |
| November | (11)2000 | 6 |
| December | (11)2000 | 4 |
| January | (11)2001 | 16 |
| February | (11)2001 | 14 |
| March | (11)2001 | 13 |
| April | 2001 | 25 |
| May | 2001 | 12 |
| June | 2001 | 14 |
| July | 2001 | 11 |
| August | 2001 | 17 |
| September | 2001 | 9 |
| October | 2001 | 18 |
| November | 2001 | 15 |
| December | 2001 | 10 |
| January | 2002 | 10 |
| February | 2002 | 13 |
| March | 2002 | 10 |
| April | 2002 | 12 |
| May | 2002 | 17 |
| June | 2002 | 12 |
| July | 2002 | 22 |
| August | 2002 | 26 |
| September | 2002 | 14 |
| October | 2002 | 26 |
| November | 2002 | 14 |
| December | 2002 | 18 |
| January | 2003 | 18 |
| February | 2003 | 28 |
| March | 2003 | 29 |
| April | 2003 | 18 |
| May | 2003 | 30 |
| June | 2003 | 22 |
| July | 2003 | 38 |
| August | 2003 | 32 |
| September | 2003 | 22 |
(11) Relates to first time release cases only. Subsequent data includes cases where prisoners have been re-released following recall from life licence.
| Month | Year | Number of releases |
|---|---|---|
| October | 2003 | 40 |
| November | 2003 | 15 |
| December | 2003 | 30 |
| January | 2004 | 15 |
| February | 2004 | 31 |
| March | 2004 | 38 |
The lifer population in June 1995 stood at just under 3,300 and has risen at roughly 8 per cent. per year to the current level of over 5,500. This increase in population
18 Jun 2004 : Column 1170W
has been reflected in the number of lifer cases considered each year by the independent Parole Board and in the number of cases where release was recommended (or directed) by panels. Following the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the case of Stafford in May 2002, the Parole Board is now responsible for the release of all tariff expired lifers, including mandatory lifers.
Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the Prison Service uses Contracted Supplementary Hours rather than ex-gratia payments to cover for staff shortfalls. [178404]
Paul Goggins: Contracted Supplementary Hours is a contracted agreement between management and staff for working additional hours, allowing advance planning of attendance patterns to cover periods of staff shortfall. For this purpose, Contracted Supplementary Hours are used in place of ex-gratia payments, which are primarily one-off payments to cover individual circumstances in unforeseen cases of operational emergency.
Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of the Contracted Supplementary Hours scheme to cover for staff shortfalls in the Prison Service. [178405]
Paul Goggins: The Contracted Supplementary Hours scheme was introduced to provide prison governors with the flexibility to provide immediate additional working hours to meet operational needs. Since it has been in operation for the majority of prisons for just over a year, no assessment has yet been made on the cost-effectiveness of the scheme in covering staff shortfalls in the Prison Service.
Colin Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the relative cost-effectiveness and flexibility of ex-gratia payments in covering for staff shortfalls. [178406]
Paul Goggins: Ex-gratia payments provide flexibility in individual circumstances for unforeseen cases of operational emergency. In view of the unpredictable nature of these payments, it would be very difficult to draw generalised conclusions about them. Hence, no assessment has been made to date of their cost-effectiveness.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average ratio of prisoners to wardens was in (a) privately and (b) publicly run prisons in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by category. [177846]
Paul Goggins: The information is as follows:
Category | Ratio for the number of prisoners to prison custody officers(13) |
|---|---|
| Category B | 3.97 |
| Category C | 3.63 |
| Juvenile | 1.61 |
(12) Privately operated.
(13) Prison custody officers are the equivalent of the public prisons prison officer.
18 Jun 2004 : Column 1171W
Category | Ratio for the number of prisoners to prison officers |
|---|---|
| Category B | 2.78 |
| Category C | 3.58 |
| Juvenile | 1.78 |
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time teachers are employed in each London prison. [177816]
Paul Goggins: There are 64 full-time teachers employed in the London prisons, broken down as follows:
| Prison | Number |
|---|---|
| Wandsworth | 10 |
| Wormwood Scrubs | 10 |
| Feltham | 17 |
| Holloway | 6 |
| Pentonville | 4 |
| Brixton | 8 |
| Latchmere | 0 |
| Belmarsh | 9 |
| Total | 64 |
Learning opportunities for prisoners are also provided by a range of other staff including part-time teachers employed by the contractor, Instructional Officers, Prison Officer Instructors and other prison staff.
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