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Drug Rehabilitation Treatment

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to reduce waiting times for drug rehabilitation treatment in South Somerset. [163882]

Caroline Flint: Long waiting times have developed in Somerset because Somerset Drugs Service provides a wide range of treatment services and there were unpredicted peaks in demand on some of these services during last year. Subsequently waiting times increased for some services, specifically drug rehabilitation services.

There was also a breakdown in communication between Somerset Drug Services and Drug Action Team commissioners, including Primary Care Trust commissioners. However, the Drug Action Team commissioners have re-established links and with the support of the National Treatment Agency are working to ensure such a breakdown does not occur again. All partners are working together with the service to get back on track and to ensure that waiting times are reduced. A variety of strategies have been put into place to reduce waiting times, for example:

The Drug Action Team (DAT) is involved in the National Treatment Agency Opening Doors programme to reduce waiting times;

The DAT has invested in two peripatetic nurses in Somerset Drugs Service as a resource to reduce waiting times;

 
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The DAT has made additional funding available of £205,600 for prescribing in this financial year to provide an additional 74 places;

The DAT commissioned a Strategic Review of the whole adult drug treatment system, which makes clear recommendations about reconfiguration of service provision, which the DAT is currently taking forward;

The DAT has established data collection system for waiting times by modality to ensure accurate monitoring is in place.

Further details on the strategies are available from the DAT.

Green Burials

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures have been taken by the Government to encourage the use of ecologically-friendly burials, with particular reference to the procedure whereby bodies are freeze-dried and buried in biodegradable coffins. [178713]

Paul Goggins: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 June 2004, Official Report, column 1511W.

Illegal Weapons

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many illegal firearms were (a) found and (b) confiscated by Lancashire police in each of the last three years. [180690]

Caroline Flint: The requested information is not available centrally.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were found by police to be carrying knives in public areas in Lancashire in each of the last three years. [180691]

Caroline Flint: The requested information is not available centrally.

National Offender Management Service

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget for the National Offender Management Service for (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 is; and what proportion will be allocated to (i) prisons and (ii) probation. [166593]

Paul Goggins: The 2004–05 Correctional Services Resource budget is £3,689 million and the Capital budget is £326 million. The costs of setting up the National Offender Management Service will be met from within this provision. Of the 2004–05 budget for Correctional Services, 22 per cent. has been allocated to probation and 60 per cent. has been allocated to prisons. Funding for 2005–06 onwards will be agreed as part of the current spending review.

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who the employing body is for prison staff under the National Offender Management Service arrangements. [179475]

Paul Goggins: Staff working in Her Majesty's Prison Service remain civil servants employed under authority delegated by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the Director General of the Prison Service. Consultation on the future organisational
 
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structure of the National Offender Management Service recently concluded. The responses to that consultation exercise are currently being considered. No changes will be made to the current status of Her Majesty's Prison Service as an Executive Agency of the Home Office until that work has been completed.

Offender Management

Mrs. Ann Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will be responsible for commissioning new prison establishments under the National Offender Management Service. [168781]

Paul Goggins: Ministers will be responsible for commissioning new prison establishments with advice from The Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service, Martin Narey.

Police Intelligence Database

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what safeguards will be in place to ensure that information in the proposed police national intelligence database is confidential and accessible only by relevant persons. [181453]

Caroline Flint: Ownership of all police data rests with Chief Constables. Each force's security and access protocols must accord with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Community Security Policy that also governs usage of the Police National Computer (PNC). This will be reinforced in the Code of Practice to be prepared in response to Sir Michael Bichard's recommendation. For security reasons, I am not in a position to describe current the arrangements to prevent or detect unauthorised access, but I am satisfied these are adequate.

Police National Computer

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who is authorised (a) to input and (b) to amend information on the Police National Computer; what procedures and arrangements are in place (i) to prevent and (ii) to uncover unauthorised hacking, including by persons authorised to access the Police National Computer; and if he will make a statement. [181166]

Caroline Flint: I would refer my hon. Friend to my earlier response on 22 January 2004, Official Report, column 1440W, which dealt with those who were authorised to access and amend information on the Police National Computer (PNC).

For security reasons I am not in a position to describe the arrangements that are in place to prevent or detect unauthorised access to the PNC but I am satisfied that these arrangements are adequate.
 
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Prison Doctors

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many doctors work at Wymott and Garth prisons (a) full-time and (b) part-time (i) contracted to the Prison Service and (ii) work as locums; how many other medical staff work at Garth and Wymott prisons (A) part-time and (B) full-time and to whom they are contracted to. [180076]

Paul Goggins: Wymott prison has one full-time locum doctor and an out-of-hours service is supplied by a local general practitioner's practice, which is a shared service between Wymott and Garth. Both are contracted to the Prison Service. There are a further 12 full-time medical staff working in the health care centre. One is employed by the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust and 11 are employed by the Prison Service.

Garth prison has two full-time doctors both of whom are contracted to the Prison Service. One is a locum and the other also provides cover at Wymott. A further 17 staff work in the health care centre: one full-time member of staff is employed by the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust and the Prison Service employs 14 full-time and two part-time nurses.

Racism

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Government measures to tackle racism; and if he will make a statement. [180101]

Fiona Mactaggart: Under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Government placed a public duty on public authorities to promote racial equality. The full benefits of this will be realised over time, as the duty becomes mainstreamed in the work of public bodies.

Research conducted on behalf of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) found that nearly 70 per cent. of public authorities and educational institutions felt that their work on implementing the duty had already produced positive results. The benefit most commonly cited was increased awareness of race equality in policy making and service delivery; other benefits included increased ability to ensure policies and services were targeted and designed appropriately.

Supporting evidence to the findings of the research conducted on behalf of the CRE have been published in the Audit Commission's report, The journey to race equality published in January 2004. This states that the duty to promote race equality and good race relations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act is the most influential driver of activity on race equality.

We are developing a Government wide Community Cohesion and Race Equality Strategy and as part of that work launched a consultation pamphlet Strength in Diversity. I refer my hon. friend to the statement I gave to the House on 19 May 2004, Official Report, column 49WS. Eradicating racism is at the heart of the strategy and through the consultation exercise we want to engage as broad a range of people as possible in finding ways to achieve this goal.
 
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