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3 Mar 2005 : Column 1305W—continued
Detention Centres
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many detainees under the age of 18 years were held in detention centres in each year since 1997; [218809]
(2) what the average detention time of each individual under the age of 18 years held in detention centres was in each year since 1997. [218810]
Mr. Browne: Information on the number of children held in detention centres and the average time for which they were there in each year since 1997 is not available. It would only be available by examination of individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Information is only available on a quarterly snapshot basis since December 2003. As at 27 December 2003, 10 people who were detained solely under Immigration Act powers were recorded as being under 18-years old; as at 25 December 2004, there were 25 people recorded as being under 18-years old. However, information on the number of children detained on 27 December 2003 excludes minors detained with their families at Oakington Reception Centre. These children were included in the published statistics for 2004; for this reason the figures are not comparable. Information on the average time these children had been detained is not available.
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Feltham Young Offender Institution
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners at Feltham Young Offender Institution are held on remand awaiting deportation having completed their sentences; how many prisoners were held on that basis in 2004; and for what periods such prisoners were held. [208522]
Mr. Browne: With effect 19 February there was one person detained in Feltham after completion of sentence and a total of 194 in the prison estate.
Information on the numbers held during 2004 and the period persons are detained following completion of prison sentences is not available.
Work is ongoing to improve the quality of data held on those people detained under Immigration Act powers in prison establishments.
Fresh Talent Initiative
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions he has held with the Scottish Executive concerning the implementation of the Fresh Talent initiative. [219765]
Mr. Browne: The Scottish Executive is responsible for its broader Fresh Talent Initiative but we hold regular discussions with them on various aspects of it. In respect of the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme, which will be launched in summer 2005, Home Office and Scottish Executive officials last held discussions on 1 February 2005.
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) changes to existing legislation and (b) new legislation will be required to allow for introduction of the measures proposed in Fresh Talent; what the timetable is for the introduction of such (i) changes and (ii) legislation; and if he will make a statement. [219766]
Mr. Browne: The Scottish Executive's Fresh Talent Initiative is a wide-ranging initiative, not confined to immigration matters. We are working with them on a range of measures, such as ensuring that Scottish employers have full information on the existing immigration routes to the UK. These require no changes to legislation.
One aspect which requires changes to the Immigration Rules is the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme. This scheme will enable overseas students who have successfully completed an HND, degree, Masters or PhD in Scotland to apply for leave to seek and take work in Scotland for up to two years. The scheme will be launched in summer 2005 and a specific date will be published in due course. The necessary amendments to the secondary legislation will be laid before Parliament 21 days before the scheme comes into effect, as is customary practice.
Judicial System
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of running the justice system was in (a) 1995, (b) 1997, (c) 1999, (d) 2001 and (e) 2003; and what the expected cost is in 2005–06. [209490]
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Paul Goggins: Three Government Departments, the Home Office, Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the Attorney General (including the Crown Prosecution Service) are jointly responsible for the justice system.
HM Treasury regularly publish statistics on public expenditure which are freely available via the HM Treasury's website at http://www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/finance_ spending_statistics/pes_publications.
The three Departments also publish annual departmental and other reports, which give comprehensive information about delivery and service improvements.
The overall cost of the justice system" as a whole, including the administration of justice, policing and offender management was:
| Overall cost | |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 13,352 |
| 1997–98 | 14,318 |
| 1999–2000 | 15,099 |
| 2001–02 | 18,340 |
| 2003–04 (estimate) | 22,227 |
The figures presented are a mix of cash and accruals. All outturn figures up until 1997–98 are on a cash accounting basis. Outturn figures for 1999–2000 and 2001–02 are on an accruals basis, as is the estimated outturn data for 2003–04.
The expected costs of the justice system" in 2005–06 have not yet been finalised and are subject to central and local government financial planning rounds.
The historical figures used in this answer are taken from the HM Treasury Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2004 and 2001–02.
Personation
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department takes to prevent fraud against private enterprises by people impersonating individuals known to be dead. [218453]
Mr. Browne: The Home Office-led Identity Fraud Steering Committee, which comprises public and private sector organisations that are committed to reducing identity fraud, began a project in November 2004 to explore the benefits, feasibility and legal impediments of sharing public sector deceased person information with private sector organisations involved in fraud prevention. The organisations involved are the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and CIFAS—the UK's Fraud Prevention Service. CIFAS membership includes more than 200 companies covering sectors such as financial services, utilities and insurance.
The first phase of the project involved a sample of 50confirmed impersonation of deceased (IOD) cases. These were processed against ONS data on deceased people to establish whether the fraud could have been
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detected and prevented had the ONS data been available to CIFAS members when the fraudsters' applications were processed. The project found that sharing this data would not have a significant impact on reducing this type of fraud.
The second phase of the project is exploring the benefits of sharing deceased person data held by DWP to reduce deceased person fraud. This includes confirming whether the data held by DWP would help to reduce IOD fraud; running the same cases of IOD fraud (as used in the first phase) against the information held by DWP; and establishing whether any showstoppers" or legal impediments exist that would prevent DWP data on deceased people from being shared with the private sector.
Initial results suggest that sharing DWP data may help to reduce IOD fraud, but further work is needed to evaluate the benefits that could be obtained. This work is now under way along with an examination of any possible legal impediments to sharing the data.
Police
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will draw on best practice within the public and private sector to ensure that the skills and abilities of women and ethnic minorities within the police force are developed to their full potential; and if he will make a statement. [213769]
Ms Blears: The Government are committed to professionalising the whole police workforce. A central plank of our workforce modernisation programme is to develop and implement improved learning and development for everyone in the service and ensure, in particular, that women and people from ethnic minorities have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
The Core Leadership Development Programme will ensure that officers of all levels can develop the important leadership skills that they need to carry out their duties effectively. This programme will be open to officers from sergeant to chief inspector level. It will also be open to police staff—6 per cent. of whom are from minority ethnic backgrounds and 62 per cent. of whom are women—at equivalent levels.
We intend to strengthen the Senior Careers Advisory Service to support those with potential for senior leadership. In doing so, we will learn from other organisations' experience and explore joint development opportunities with them, including secondments and exchanges.
A career in the police service should be an opportunity for life long learning and development. We want all those working in the police service to have clear career pathways in which to develop their professional skills and have these accredited. We will develop a formal qualifications framework and are considering developing professional registers for the service in line with practice in other professions.
Officers and staff will be given the opportunity to keep their skills up to date as they progress through more structured careers. We will put in place mechanisms for continuously developing the operational skills of
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constables. Officers will be assessed against national occupational standards and we will award those who achieve the standards with a qualification which will be recognised outside the service.
We are also considering changes to regulations so that officers will no longer be required to have spent a specific number of years in a particular rank before being eligible for promotion. This will remove barriers to promotion and widen the pool of those who are eligible. We are also keen to identify members of police staff with potential for development and we will look to develop arrangements for a high potential development scheme for police staff similar to that available to officers.
Police staff play an increasingly important role in the police service and we are keen to attract more women and people from ethnic minorities into the police service from outside. We intend also to draw on practice elsewhere and encourage members of ethnic minorities with successful careers in other professions to apply for lateral entry to the police service.
We will review our promotion and progression procedures to ensure they are fair, transparent and have no adverse impact on women or minority ethnic officers. Any barriers identified will be removed.
We will also work closely with the British Association of Women Police to ensure women have the support and opportunities to reach their potential. Part of this will be ensuring that the working environment for women is professional and supportive and that police training will be available on a non- residential and part time basis. More opportunity for flexible working patterns, should provide greater opportunity to gain experience in a wider range of roles.
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