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Prisons

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) women and (b) men were being held in prison on 12 March; how many prisoners were released on early release on 12 March; how many prisoners were eligible for early release on 12 March; and how many prisoners were released on 12 March. [201032]

Paul Goggins: On 12 March 2004 there were 4,569 females and 70,451 males being held in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. There were an estimated 175 prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years whose Home Detention Curfew (HDC) eligibility date was 12 March 2004. On that date, 77 prisoners were actually released on HDC.

Some prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years do not quality for HDC because of the nature of their current or previous offences.

In addition, the figure of 175 will exclude a small number of prisoners in the population who were on remand at the time of the count, but were subsequently
 
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sentenced to a custodial sentence suitable for HOC and whose HOC eligibility date falls on 12 March 2004. This occurs when they have spent a significant period on remand.

A further 623 prisoners were discharged by other means on 12 March 2004, not including discharges following recall after release on licence, fine defaulters and non-criminals.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers and staff were waiting on 6 December for results from a test for tuberculosis. [203713]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 13 December 2004]: This information is not held centrally and can be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many (a) prison officers and (b) staff are waiting for the results of a test for hepatitis C following an incident in prison in which they were injured as at 7 December; [204619]

(2) how many (a) prison officers and (b) staff have (i) been tested for hepatitis C and (ii) tested positive for hepatitis C following an incident in which they were injured in each year since January 1997 and from 1 January to 1 December 2004. [204620]

Paul Goggins: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding has been made available to prison governors for the implementation of the Prisons Alcohol Strategy. [206616]

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service has now launched a comprehensive Alcohol Strategy for prisoners. The Strategy follows closely the Government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy and complements both our existing Drug Strategy and the wider programme of resettlement activity. The Strategy will be implemented within existing funding settlements.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will establish a multi-disciplinary project team to review fire safety risks in prison cells. [200931]

Paul Goggins: The Building Research Establishment Fire Section was commissioned as an independent specialist body in September 2004 to survey and review fire safety issues across the prison estate, concentrating primarily on fire safety risks in prison cells.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what account the Prison Service takes of the likelihood of (a) vandalism and (b) attempted suicides when making decisions on the installation of sprinklers in prisons and detention centres. [200932]

Paul Goggins: Any decisions on the installation of sprinklers for cellular accommodation in prisons would take into account safety factors such as the risk of self-harm and the potential for vandalism as well as overall cost effectiveness. If sprinklers were introduced design features would need to minimise the risk of sprinkler heads being used as ligature points. The installation of
 
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sprinklers in immigration removal centres will be considered by the Immigration and Nationality Department on a case-by-case basis.

Probation Service

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what factors determined (a) the level of pay rise included in the Probation Service's budget for 2004–05 and (b) the level of pay rises awarded to Probation Service staff in 2004–05. [203638]

Paul Goggins [holding answer 9 December 2004]: The information is as follows:

(a) A provisional figure of 3.5 per cent. was allocated in the 2004–05 Probation Area budgets. This was in the expectation that pay modernisation proposals, which would have included an annual pay award, would be successfully negotiated and implemented with an effective date of 1 April 2004. It was considered that 3.5 per cent. would be likely to fall within Her Majesty's Treasury guidelines, as it contained both an annual pay award and the introduction of a new, modernised pay system.

(b) A final offer of a 2.7 per cent. annual pay award has been made with effect from 1 April 2004. The determining factors were the cost threshold under Her Majesty's Treasury guidelines, affordability and reasonableness. This offer is in addition to the provision for annual incremental progression paid to staff from 1 April 2004. This offer is the subject of continuing negotiations with Probation Service Trade Unions.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to monitor the performance of the probation service against outcomes. [205687]

Paul Goggins: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will be judged on its success in delivering the target of a five per cent reduction in re-offending by 2007–08, leading to a 10 per cent. reduction by the end of the decade.

Within that framework, the probation service is currently judged by a range of different measures. These include the number of offenders completing cognitive skills programmes designed to tackle offending behaviour and the number of offenders gaining basic educational qualifications, as well as the number of offenders who successfully comply with the terms of their order. We will further develop the range of measures as part of the introduction of the offender-focused management being developed by NOMS.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been carried out of the 2001 national probation service reforms. [205709]

Paul Goggins: The changes introduced by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2000 and implemented from April 2001 were overseen by the Director General of the National Probation Service (NPS) based within the Home Office.

The overall three year change programme was set out in a strategic document, "A New Choreography". The Office of Government Commerce independently reviewed the initial programme in October 2001. They commended the restructure and noted early performance improvements.
 
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Since 2001, service-wide performance improvements have continued and these are monitored in regular quarterly NPS performance reports, which have been made publicly available since March 2003.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation—who reports independently to Ministers on the work and performance of the NPS—has covered a number of issues relevant to the restructuring, such as governance, probation officer training, race equality and IT in recent reports. The Inspectorate's Effective Supervision Inspection programme examines the quality and effectiveness of work by probation areas in the NPS. All Inspectorate reports are published.

Refugees

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of refugees residing in each parliamentary constituency. [205112]

Mr. Browne: The information is not available in the form requested. Data on how many persons granted indefinite leave to remain that live in each parliamentary constituency is not available and could be produced only at a disproportionate cost.

Rights of Residency

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the effect of European Court of Justice case C-200/02, reference OJ C300 volume 47, of 4 December on rights of residency in the UK for non-UK citizens in equivalent circumstances to those who are the subject of that case; and how many individuals with UK-based families are thereby affected. [207257]

Mr. Browne: The ECJ ruled in case C200/02 on 19 October 2004 that an EEA national child would have a right to reside in the UK with his or her non-EEA national parent provided that the parent has sufficient income to ensure that the child held appropriate sickness insurance and would not become a burden on public funds.

The court did not accept that the parent's right to reside was unconditional or that those family members residing with the child would have a right to work or access public funds.

The number of people obtaining residency rights on the basis of this ruling is unlikely to be significant. An amendment to the immigration rules enabling those benefiting from the ruling to obtain leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom was laid on 20 December and came into force on 1 January 2005. Those obtaining leave on this basis will have no right to take up employment or access public funds.

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