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20 Jul 2004 : Column 220W—continued

Facilitation Charge

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times the charge of facilitation has been used since 1997, broken down by (a) police force and (b) year. [183817]

Ms Blears [holding answer 14 July 2004]: The term 'facilitation' is not one that is used in connection with recorded crime.

Fraud Crimes

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of fraud crimes perpetrated against elderly people in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [185215]

Ms Blears: No estimates have been made of fraud crime against the elderly. Statistics on fraud and forgery offences recorded by the police in England and Wales are published annually in "Crime in England and Wales". The latest volume covering 2003–04 is due to be published on 22 July.
 
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National Offender Management Service

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost is of future market test under the National Offender Management Service. [179473]

Paul Goggins: It has not yet been decided how many or which prisons will be market tested in the first year. Work is under way to decide how the competition will be structured and what criteria will be used to select prisons to be market tested.

Offender Behaviour Programmes

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated developmental cost has been of each accredited offender behaviour programme. [183998]

Paul Goggins: It is not possible to provide the information in the form requested. Accredited offender behaviour programmes have a number of sources. Some are adaptations of programmes developed overseas, some have been developed by the independent and voluntary sectors, some began as local initiatives and others have been developed centrally by the Prison and Probation Services.

The costs are, therefore, varied. We estimate, for example, that the cost of adapting and piloting the existing Think First programme was £50,000, while developing the Women's Acquisitive Crime Programme from scratch, including the costs of piloting and accreditation, was in the region of £115,000.

Police (Jury Service)

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he received prior to the inclusion in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 of the provision that police officers would no longer be exempt from jury service. [181751]

Ms Blears: The Government consulted on the new jury service provisions contained in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 as part of the wider consultation on Lord Justice Auld's Review on the Criminal Courts of England and Wales.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs also consulted on the guidance that was issued to the Jury Central Summoning Bureau prior to the commencement of these provisions.

Deepcut Investigation

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made by the Devon and Cornwall police of the number of potential witnesses (a) contacted and (b) interviewed by the Ministry of Defence's police detective constables in the course of their involvement in the Deepcut investigation. [183380]

Ms Blears: I am not currently able to provide the information requested. Surrey police have advised that they commissioned Devon and Cornwall police to undertake a review into the Surrey police investigation into the deaths of four young soldiers at Deepcut barracks but this has not yet been completed. It is
 
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understood that the review will consider the use made by Surrey police of Ministry of Defence police detective constables during the course of the investigation. It will be for Devon and Cornwall police to consider whether an assessment of the numbers of potential witnesses contacted or interviewed by the Ministry of Defence police detective constables is needed as part of the review.

Police Pensions

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of each police authority budget in England and Wales was spent on pensions in (a) 1997–98 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [184752]

Ms Blears [holding answer 16 July 2004]: The information is set out in the table.
Proportion of net expenditure spent on pensions Percentage

	1997–98	2003–04
Avon and Somerset	15.6	16.7
Bedfordshire	11.5	11.8
Cambridgeshire	11.9	12.9
Cheshire	11.1	12.6
City of London	12.7	16.0
Cleveland	10.9	15.8
Cumbria	12.8	15.8
Derbyshire	12.8	13.0
Devon and Cornwall	13.5	14.0
Dorset	13.0	13.2
Durham	16.5	13.6
Dyfed-Powys	12.0	13.5
Essex	10.6	14.0
Gloucestershire	13.2	14.6
Greater Manchester	16.5	14.1
Gwent	11.6	14.4
Hampshire	9.6	12.4
Hertfordshire	9.5	10.8
Humberside	13.2	13.7
Kent	11.3	13.2
Lancashire	14.2	14.9
Leicestershire	11.9	12.1
Lincolnshire	13.8	15.7
Merseyside	14.9	17.8
Metropolitan	11.4	12.2
Norfolk	13.2	12.8
Northamptonshire	12.4	9.0
Northumbria	15.4	15.5
North Wales	13.6	14.7
North Yorkshire	14.5	13.9
Nottinghamshire	13.7	16.7
South Wales	17.6	16.1
South Yorkshire	12.1	13.1
Staffordshire	17.3	14.4
Suffolk	13.3	14.5
Surrey	13.7	10.3
Sussex	13.3	14.6
Thames Valley	9.8	9.8
Warwickshire	13.9	16.4
West Mercia	11.0	13.4
West Midlands	12.2	12.5
West Yorkshire	13.0	15.6
Wiltshire	10.4	12.5

Note:
Leicestershire's 1997–98 figures were not available in the CIPFA Actuals 1997–98. The force estimates have therefore been used.
Source:
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Police Statistics—Actuals 1997–98 and Estimates 2003–04.




 
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Police Sickness

Mr. Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces in England operate sickness reduction schemes; and what change has been recorded in sickness levels since their introduction. [167051]

Ms Blears: All police forces have been set the objective of reducing sickness absence levels.

The Strategy for a Healthy Police, which was launched in October 2002 supports this objective through funding, guidance and best practice in managing sickness absence and attendance.

All forces in England and Wales were allocated a share of £4 million in 2002–03, and then £5 million in 2003–04 and the current financial year. They have been able to focus this extra resource on projects aimed at reducing sickness absence.

Sickness absence figures have improved since the launch of the Strategy, with overall sickness absence now at a national average of 10.4 days per officer per year, and 11.7 per support staff member. This has decreased from 12.2 days per officer and 12.6 days per support staff member when the Strategy was launched. The best performing forces have continued to make improvements, but the gap between best and worst performers has also significantly narrowed.

The Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary annual report for 2003/2004 sets out the national and force rates for sickness absence per force.

Prison Service

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many qualified craftsmen were employed by the Prison Service in each prison in each of the last five years; and how many of these were in the prison officer grades. [184289]

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service does not currently collect data on the qualifications held by its employees. Craftsmen are a sub-grade of industrial staff. While data are available on overall staffing levels within the industrial grades, specific data on the number of craftsmen employed are not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the levels of prison front-line staff have changed since 1997. [182305]

Paul Goggins: Since 1997 the number of staff in front line and delivery support functions has increased by 6164 (19 per cent.).

During this period, the Prison Service has introduced a number of measures to improve overall efficiency, including identifying a number of tasks within establishments previously undertaken by Prison Officers that can more efficiently be undertaken by Operational Support Grade staff. A programme has also been implemented to use industrial grade staff to undertake activities within works departments, which
 
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had previously been undertaken by specialist officers. As a result, Prison Officer numbers have not increased as much as overall staffing increases.

Staffing levels in the healthcare and psychology functional areas have increased at a higher rate than the growth in the prisoner population.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2004, Official Report, column 330W, on offender management, when decisions will be made as to how many prisons will be market-tested in the first year; and how the competitions will be structured; [184691]

(2) what criteria will be used for selecting which establishments to market test. [184692]

Paul Goggins: It has not yet been decided how many or which prisons will be market tested in the first year. Work is under way to decide how the competition will be structured and what criteria will be used to select prisons to be market tested.

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