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21 Jun 2004 : Column 1194W—continued
Probation Service
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost per square metre of providing office and storage space for the National Probation Service in Central London was in 2003. [177734]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 10 June 2004]: The cost of providing office and storage space in 2002–03 for the London Probation Area was £11,726,000, equivalent to £223 per square metre.
With effect from 2003–04, all costs across the whole of the National Probation Estate were paid centrally and pooled. The national average cost per square metre was set at £180.
The London Probation Area had their grant reduced by £1,734,000 in recognition of the fact that their costs have been reduced as a consequence of the national pooling arrangement.
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Secure Training Centres
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the police have been called to secure training centres in each of the last five years; and for what reasons. [176780]
Paul Goggins: Police attendance's at secure training centres (STCs) are not individually recorded.
Sex Offenders
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of residents in probation hostels are convicted sex offenders. [172395]
Paul Goggins: We do not maintain a central record of the number of residents in approved premises who have been convicted of sexual offences.
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women were on the sex offenders' register on 1 May. [177815]
Paul Goggins: The 2003–04 Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements annual reports, which will provide statistics on the number of registered sex offenders living in the community on 31 March 2004, will be published later this year.
Victim Care Charities
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will change his policy of charging victim care charities market rents for office space created for agencies working closely with the criminal justice system in new magistrates courts. [179008]
Mr. Leslie: I have been asked to reply.
Magistrates courts are expected to provide office space at no cost for 'Support Care Staff' for the use of referring to papers and conducting occasional interviews while at the courthouse. Agreement on the provision of accommodation is reached on this basis. Should the requirement of victim care charities exceed this agreement, negotiations are made locally. However, the launch of Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) in April 2005 will provide an opportunity to assess all current estates, contracts and maintenance arrangements and
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deliver seamless integration of the Court Service and magistrates courts estates to improve and provide efficient services.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Crown Prosecution Service
Mr. Drew: To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service. [168311]
The Solicitor-General: I would refer the hon. Member to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Annual Report.
The CPS is the principal public prosecuting authority for England and Wales, handling criminal cases investigated by the police.
The following table provides some key figures on the volume of cases handled by the service in 2003 and in the two preceding years; and the outcome of those cases.
While these figures support the view that the CPS makes a valuable contribution to the delivery of justice, the Service has set itself further challenging targets for 2004–05. In this year, it will seek to build on its success and reduce the proportion of unsuccessful outcomes by 11 per cent. as compared with the levels seen in 2001–02. This will contribute to the achievement of the wider criminal justice system target of bringing 1.2 million offences to justice in 2005–06. The CPS will also contribute to the reduction in the numbers of ineffective trials to 18.5 per cent. in the Crown court and 24.5 per cent. in the magistrates court.
To achieve these targets, the main priority for the CPS in 2004–05 is to introduce the statutory charging scheme, where prosecutors will determine the charges to be preferred in the more serious cases. This follows the success of pilots in 2002–03 and of the shadow charging scheme in 2003–04. The CPS will also take a leading role in introducing the "no witness, no justice" arrangements to provide much better information and support to witnesses throughout their involvement in the criminal justice system.
These activities are designed to move the CPS towards achieving its vision of being a world-class, independent prosecuting authority that delivers a valued public service.
Figures for 2003 are provisional, and may be subject to revision.
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Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Solicitor-General what steps she is taking to increase the number of lawyers in Merseyside Crown Prosecution Service. [170340]
The Solicitor-General: CPS Merseyside currently has the equivalent of 82.74 full-time lawyers. The figures for 2001 to 2003 are 71.3, 78.3 and 79.6 respectively.
CPS Merseyside is actively recruiting prosecutors and, in addition to national advertising campaigns, advertisements have been placed in the regional and local press in the north west and in legal and minority ethnic publications. CPS Merseyside also uses continuous online recruitment via the internet. Candidates can apply at any time and, if they meet the minimum standards, can be called for interview very quickly.
Through the CPS Law Scholarship Scheme, CPS Merseyside has three former caseworkers who are now legal trainees, two of whom will qualify as lawyers before the end of the year and will be eligible to apply for posts as crown prosecutors.
Criminal Justice (Bexley)
John Austin: To ask the Solicitor-General (1) if she will list members of the Bexley Criminal Justice Board; if she will list the (a) dates and (b) attendees of meetings held in the past 12 months; and if she will make a statement; [179564]
(2) what representations she has received for the transfer of responsibility for Bexley from the Croydon Prosecution Service Office to the City Office; and if she will make a statement; [179565]
(3) what assessment she has made of the discharge committals, discontinuance and ineffective trial rates in (a) Bexley and (b) London; and if she will make a statement; [179566]
(4) if she will visit Bexley magistrates court and Bexley division of the Metropolitan police to discuss the role and performance of the Crown Prosecution Service. [179567]
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The Solicitor-General: I understand that the hon. Member has now received my letter which answers these points. For the benefit of Members, I will place a copy of that letter in the Library.
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