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Probation Service

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he intends to implement the National Probation Service Pay and Reward Review. [196997]

Paul Goggins: The Employers' Side of the National Probation Service (NPS) National Negotiating Committee (NNC) has had a number of meetings with the Trade Union Side about the introduction of new pay and grading arrangements. Until very recently it was expected, by both sides, that the 2004–05 annual pay settlement would be subsumed within any agreement reached. This has not proved possible in view of the wide-ranging and complex issues involved. Discussions will continue.

There will be a further meeting of the NNC on 15 November.

Reoffending

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will measure the impact of the prison regime on the subsequent re-offending of discharged prisoners. [167519]

Paul Goggins: The reconviction rates of discharged prisoners are measured and monitored against Public Service Agreement 5. The most recent publication relates to the reconviction of prisoners discharged in 1999 and is available on the Home Office website.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will measure the impact of different prison regimes on individual prisoners in respect of re-offending. [167520]

Paul Goggins: The reconviction rates of discharged prisoners are measured and monitored against Public Service Agreement 5. The most recent publication relates to the reconviction of prisoners discharged in 1999 and is available on the Home Office website.

Reference Number H1128792

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reach a decision in relation to case Reference Number H1128792. [198206]

Mr. Browne [holding answer 15 November 2004]: Further inquiries need to be made before a decision can be reached in this case. Home Office officials have sent a letter to the applicant requesting the relevant information.
 
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Refugees

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department has taken in the last 12 months to improve its ability to deter people who attempt to acquire refugee status by giving a false nationality or country or region of origin. [195472]

Mr. Browne: We have taken a number of steps to deal with this issue.

Section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004 came into force on 22 September 2004. This provision allows for the prosecution of asylum seekers (and others) who arrive in the UK undocumented without reasonable excuse. If found guilty, they face a maximum two-year prison sentence. To date 79 individuals have been arrested and charged with this new criminal offence.

In addition, we are reviewing asylum screening arrangements. This will deliver a more streamlined, effective and strategic process while maintaining the fundamental principles of robustness and assertiveness in the screening process. This review will have a significant impact on those who seek to abuse the asylum process by claiming to hold a false nationality.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that asylum applicants posing falsely as nationals from countries other than that of their origin are dealt with appropriately, we are using language analysis testing in disputed nationality asylum cases.

Other initiatives, such as the Visa Immigration and Asylum Fingerprinting project, designed to identify asylum seekers who have obtained visas at UK missions abroad, and the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, have led to the identification of individuals who have attempted to apply for asylum using false information about their nationality.

Regional Offender Managers

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library (a) the job specification and (b) the selection criteria that were used for the recently appointed regional offender managers. [198474]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 16 November 2004]: I have arranged for a copy of the job specification and selection criteria for the recently appointed Regional Offender Managers to be placed in the Library.

Scientific Procedures

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many places in Scotland are designated as (a) a supplying establishment, (b) a breeding establishment and (c) a scientific procedure establishment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; [195840]

(2) how many regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were carried out in Scotland in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003; [195841]
 
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(3) how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003 in respect of work to be carried out in Scotland. [195849]

Caroline Flint: Comprehensive statistics regarding the licensed use in Great Britain of animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are published annually. Copies of the publications for 2002 and 2003 can be found in the House Library (Cm 5886 and Cm 6291 respectively).

However, the data is not collected, stored or presented in a way enabling it to be easily broken down between England, Wales and Scotland. There is normally no requirement for that, as the 1986 Act is administered by the Home Office for the whole of Britain (it is administered separately in Northern Ireland). A special exercise has therefore been conducted to isolate the information requested in these Questions.

At 31 December 2003 (the latest available published data) there were 35 establishments in Scotland designated as places where licensed scientific procedures using animals may be conducted. Of these 20 were also designated as breeding establishments and nine as supplying establishments.

The number of recorded regulated procedures conducted in Scotland in 2002 under the 1986 Act was 418,952. The corresponding figure for 2003 is 433,646. In each year this represents just over 15 per cent. of the total for Britain.

In 2002 a total of 91 project licences were granted in Scotland under the 1986 Act. The corresponding figure for 2003 is 75. Each year licences expire or are revoked, as well as granted. For completeness, and to give a more accurate idea of the overall amount of licensed work conducted, I should therefore add that there were 559 project licences in force in Scotland at the end of 2002, and 560 at the end of 2003.

Sentencing Guidelines

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether sentencing guidelines recognise assaulting an emergency worker as an aggravating factor in sentencing for assault; and if he will make a statement. [196242]

Paul Goggins: The Sentencing Guidelines Council has recently issued for consultation a draft guideline on seriousness and new sentences. The draft guideline states that one of the factors indicating a more than usually serious degree of harm is the location of the offence, for example, where the victim was providing a service to the public. We would like to see this strengthened by including under the aggravating factors "where an offence is committed against those working in the public sector or providing a service to the public, in the course of their duties". It is both culpability and harm that determine the seriousness of the offence.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the timetable is for the consultation period on the draft guidelines issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in September 2004. [195858]

 
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Paul Goggins [holding answer 4 November 2004]: The Sentencing Guidelines Council is responsible for setting the consultation period on their draft guidelines. The consultation period for the guidelines issued on 20 September ended on 29 October. Responses were considered at the meeting of the council on Friday 12 November.

Service Personnel (Citizenship Applications)

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether an applicant for British citizenship serving abroad in the United Kingdom armed forces may be disqualified in their application on the grounds of absence from the United Kingdom. [198882]

Mr. Browne: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.

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