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Written Ministerial Statements

Thursday 15 July 2004

TRANSPORT

Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty): We have issued today a consultation letter about the definition of a private hire vehicle in London in the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 (the 1998 Act). During our first term, we were pleased to support this important safety measure to regulate London's minicabs and bring them into line with the rest of the country. However, we understand that a loophole in the definition is allowing unscrupulous operators to use unlicensed drivers and vehicles within the law by claiming that the work undertaken is dedicated to groups or specific organisations rather than to the public at large. I am clear that this was not the intention of Parliament when the Bill was passed and that such hirings should be within the framework of the 1998 Act. Therefore, the purpose of the consultation letter is to seek views on a proposal to amend the definition to exclude the phrase "to the public" at the first suitable opportunity and thereby close the loophole. The consultation letter, which is available on the Department for Transport website, is being sent to key private hire and taxi stakeholders, but anyone with an interest is invited to comment. Copies of the consultation letter have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): The annual report of the Crown Prosecution Service has today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Shipman Inquiry

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Caroline Flint): The Fourth Report of the Shipman inquiry, "The regulation of, controlled drugs in the community", Cm 6249, was published today, and copies have been placed in the Library. This follows the publication of reports on the extent of Harold Shipman's activities, on the 1998 investigation by the Greater Manchester police, and on death certification and the coroner system. The inquiry's final report on monitoring of medical practitioners, disciplinary systems, whistleblowing and complaints is now expected to be published later this year.
 
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The Government would again like to thank Dame Janet Smith for the meticulous care which has gone into the preparation of this report; for the sensitivity with which she has listened to the views of health care and law enforcement professionals at the inquiry's seminars; and for the skilful balance she has struck between the need to safeguard the legitimate use of controlled drugs for patient care and the need to protect the public from their misuse. We would also like to reiterate our sympathy to the relatives and friends of Shipman's victims.

Dame Janet's report makes three major groups of recommendations. First, she advocates setting up an integrated and multidisciplinary inspectorate to monitor and audit the prescription, storage, distribution and disposal of controlled drugs. Secondly, the report recommends a number of restrictions on the prescribing of controlled drugs which would discourage or prevent health professionals from prescribing in circumstances in which it could be considered to be unsafe or unwise for them to do so—prescribing for their own use or for that of their immediate families, prescribing outside the requirements of their normal clinical practice, prescribing by professionals convicted of controlled drugs offences. Thirdly, the report proposes a series of measures to tighten the handling and safekeeping of controlled drugs along each part of the supply chain from the supplier to the patient's home, and to provide a complete "audit trail" to account for the movement of controlled drugs at each stage, both in the national health service and in the private sector.

These are very significant recommendations with fundamental implications for the use of controlled drugs in the NHS and elsewhere. We will need to study them carefully and in consultation with existing inspectorates, patients, NHS and police organisations and the healthcare professions. In particular, we will be seeking the views of the advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD), which has already begun some valuable preparatory work on possible improvements to the present system and on the legislative changes that would be required. And we will need to wait for the recommendations in the inquiry's fifth report, on the general monitoring of general medical practitioners (GPs) and other health professionals, before we can reach final decisions on those issues on which there is a potential overlap between the two reports.

In the meanwhile there is much valuable and important work already in hand. In addition to the work of the ACMD, the national prescribing centre has published "preview" guidance for NHS organisations and professionals summarising the legal requirements and best professional practice in the handling of controlled drugs. This work will be updated to take account of the inquiry's recommendations and issued as soon as possible. Finally, the NHS national programme for information technology will make a valuable contribution towards some of the additional safeguards
 
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proposed in the report, and we will need to consider carefully what can be delivered within the timescales of the programme.

In welcoming the inquiry's second and third reports, my right hon. Friends the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Health emphasised the need to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past. Dame Janet's report acknowledges that no system for the regulation of controlled drugs can offer complete security against abuse from minds as devious as Shipman's, while allowing for their legitimate use by health professionals to ease suffering. But her report also makes it clear that much more could be done to deter and detect improper use. We accept this conclusion. In acting on her report we are determined to ensure that all reasonable measures are taken to provide the robust safeguards which are needed and which the public can rightly expect.

Prison Service and National Probation Service

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Paul Goggins): The Prison Service and the probation service have today published their annual reports, reporting their performance in 2003–04. Copies have been placed in the Library. The Prison Service report includes the service's accounts for 2003–04. The financial statement for the national probation service will be published in early 2005.

Because contracted prisons are now managed by the office for contracted prisons rather than the Prison Service details of their performance are not included in the service's annual report. The tables below therefore report on the performance of all prisons in England and Wales (comprising those managed by the Prison Service and those managed by the office for contracted prisons), and the performance of the contracted estate

A full breakdown of the performance of both public and contracted prison establishments in relation to the applicable key performance indicators (KPIs) will be provided at a later date.
Performance by public and contracted prisons inEngland and Wales in 2003–04

KPI	Annual Target	Outturn
Category A Escapes	0	0
Total Escapes from Prisons and Prison Escorts	<0.05%	0.022%
Escapes from Contracted Escorts	1:20,000	1:39,377
Employment, Training and Education (ETE)	31,500	35,530
Education Awards Entry	7,749	13,500
Level 1	14,462	18,911
Level 2	14,420	14,233
Key Work Skills	54,880	109,237
Offender Behaviour Programmes(Post IQR)	8,900	9,638
Sex Offender Treatment Programmes (Post IQR)	1,240	1,091
Timely Arrival at Court	81%	82%
Mandatory Drugs Tests	<10%	12.5%
Self-inflicted Deaths	<112.8per 100,000	93(= 126.2)
Purposeful Activity	24	23.4
Serious Assault	1.2%	1.56%(1,153)

 
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Performance by contracted prisons in England and Walesin 2003–04

KPI	Annual Target	Outturn
Category A Escapes	0	0
Total Escapes from Prisons and Prison Escorts	<0.05%	0.01%
Employment, Training and Education (ETE)	2,456	2,938
Education Awards Entry	575	971
Level 1	802	1,047
Level 2	772	895
Key Work Skills	2,208	5,654
Offender Behaviour Programmes(Post IQR)	456	469
Sex Offender Treatment Programmes (Post IQR)	46	45
Mandatory Drugs Tests	<10%	14.0%
Self-inflicted Deaths	<112.8per 100,000	29.7per 100,000
Purposeful Activity	28	26.6
Serious Assault	1.0%	1.78%

The contracted sector does not manage contracted escorts and so the Prison Service targets on escapes from contracted escorts and timely arrival at court do not apply to it. The Prison Service targets on staff sickness and ethnic minority staffing are not applicable to the contracted estate. A target was not set for doubling in the contracted estate in 2003–04 and comparable data is not available—a new target on overcrowded accommodation has been set for both public and contracted prisons in 2004–05.

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