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15 Nov 2004 : Column 1099W—continued
Corporate Manslaughter Bill
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the draft Bill on corporate manslaughter will extend to Scotland. [196393]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 8 November 2004]: The Government are currently developing proposals for reforming the law on corporate manslaughter and intend to publish a draft Bill this autumn. We are in close contact with counterparts in Scotland about this, where criminal law is a devolved matter.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him dated 13 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Alphonse Ngolo. [192040]
Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 13 October 2004.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will answer the letter to him dated 14 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr. Kevin Andre Dunn. [193940]
Mr. Blunkett:
I replied to my right hon. Friend on 21 October 2004.
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Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he will reply to the letter to him dated 14 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Hanif Attiya; [197213]
(2) when he will reply to the letter to him dated 22 September from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs. R. Faiz. [197214]
Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 4 November, 2004.
Countryside Alliance (Demonstration)
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints were received by the Independent Police Complaints Commission following the Countryside Alliance demonstration in Parliament Square on 15 September; and how many of these complaints were related to police violence. [196010]
Ms Blears: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) informs me that, as of 3 November, there were 402 complaints or issues of concern raised by individuals. The investigation has not concluded and at this stage it is not possible to give a specific breakdown regarding the total number that relate to police violence. However, 45 of the complaints are from individuals alleging assault upon them personally. The IPCC will be releasing further figures as they become available.
Crime/Sentencing Statistics
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of drug treatment and testing orders in reducing re-offending in York. [191245]
Paul Goggins: There has been no independently evaluated assessment of the effectiveness of drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) in reducing re-offending in either York or North Yorkshire since the order was made available to courts in England and Wales in October 2000.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were bailed before trial in each year since 1995, broken down by (a) gender, (b) age and (c) type of offence. [190888]
Paul Goggins: The following table gives information relating to the number of people who were bailed before trial by (a) magistrates' courts and (b) the Crown court in England and Wales. The figures include estimates for missing data.
Due to the poor quality of the data we receive we are not able to provide figures for the number of people bailed before trial broken down by gender or age.
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1101W
n/a=data not available
Note:
Figures include those also held in custody at some stage.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average sentence length for people found guilty in each key offence area, as identified by Crime in England and Wales 2003–04, was in each year since 1997. [190939]
Paul Goggins: Information relating to the average custodial sentence length imposed on persons sentenced for the key offences is published as part of 'Crime in England and Wales, 2003–04'. A copy is held in the Library.
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what links the Criminal Cases Review Commission has with other agencies; and how it uses these links to commission work which provides an understanding of the issues involved in historical sex abuse cases. [191291]
Paul Goggins: The Criminal Cases Review Commission has many links with other agencies in the criminal justice system because of the need to access information from public bodies under s17 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It has not used any of these links within the criminal justice system to commission work on the issues involved in historical sex abuse cases. The Commission's working group on Child Sexual Abuse Cases did, however, request a report from a leading psychologist to identify research, good practice and guidance on the application of scientific methodology to the investigation of contemporary and historical allegations of abuse. This provided a helpful wider overview of the topic.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions the Criminal Cases Review Commission has commissioned research on historical sex abuse cases from other agencies. [191292]
Paul Goggins:
The Commission has not commissioned any research on historical sex abuse cases from other agencies.
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Criminal Justice Act
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he plans to bring into force section 174 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 requiring judges to give reasons for, and explains the effect of, sentences in ordinary language; and if he will make a statement. [193932]
Paul Goggins: Subsection (4) of section 174, which provides an order making power for the Secretary of State to disapply the need to give reasons in some cases, such as where a defendant is absent, was commenced on 1 April 2004. We expect to bring the remainder of the section into force in the first half of 2005.
Custody Plus/Minus
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who will manage the introduction of Custody Plus and Minus under the reorganisation of the Prison and probation services. [180971]
Paul Goggins: Implementation of the Custody Plus Order, the Suspended Sentence Order (Custody Minus) and the other sentencing provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is being managed within the Home Office by the Sentence Implementation Programme. Mr. Stephen Murphy, the director general of the National Probation Service, is the senior responsible officer for the programme, reporting to Mr. Martin Narey, the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service.
Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when (a) Custody Plus and (b) Custody Minus will be implemented; and how many additional (i) probation and (ii) prison staff will be recruited to administer it. [168465]
Paul Goggins:
The Suspended Sentence Order (Custody Minus) will be implemented next year. We currently plan to implement the Custody Plus Order in 2006. The Prison Service does not require additional staff to implement these sentences.
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Between 2001 and 2004 the number of probation staff increased by 21.2 per cent. Further increases will provide a total of 22,400 staff by 2005–06. This will be sufficient to deliver the Suspended Sentence Order and the other provisions in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act that will be implemented at the same time.
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