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12 Jul 2005 : Column 911W—continued
Passports
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost is of issuing (a) existing passports and (b) passports with a facial biometric (i) based on a suitable quality photograph provided by the applicant and (ii) based on a photograph taken by the Passport Office, (A) excluding and (B) including the cost of operating and maintaining the record system and overhead costs. [9937]
Andy Burnham: All passports issued use photographs provided by the applicants, none are taken by the Passport Service. In 2004–05 the actual average unit cost of issuing and delivering just over six million passports was £38.30. In 2005–06 the Passport Service will begin issuing passports containing facial biometrics, these will be phased in progressively during the last quarter of 2005–06 and the first quarter of 2006–07. The average unit cost of producing passports, including an element for the facial biometric will be:
Mark Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which company was awarded the contract to manufacture the chips used in biometric passports. [11151]
Andy Burnham: The new central and regional biometric passport (ePassport) production facilities are to be procured through the existing Security Printing and Systems Ltd. (SPSL) printing contract. SPSL will be required to procure key components though sub-contracts, with UKPS participation to endure value for money and the best technical solution. Detailed commercial negotiations for the production of ePassports are continuing, and a contract is expected to be signed in August 2005. Any sub-contract awarded for the manufacture and supply of chips to be used in ePassports would thereafter be placed by SPSL. Such a contract has not yet been placed.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Passport Office's plans to require interviews for renewals of and applications for passports. [11181]
Andy Burnham:
A written statement announcing the decision to require interviews for adult first time passport applicants was made by my right hon. Friend
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the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. Browne) on 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 172WS.
Personal attendance for passport renewals would become necessary in connection with the addition of fingerprints to biometric passports, and interview of all passport applicants would provide a further strengthening of UK Passport Service premises in line with International practises. The EU has decided that fingerprints should be included in passports issued by member states in the Schengen area, within three years of agreement on the technical specification. The UK is currently excluded from this requirement but there would be disadvantages for British passport holders if UK passports were issued to a lower standard than those of other EU member states. The UK is currently challenging its exclusion, and in parallel is considering whether to mirror the EU requirement. A statement will be made when final decisions have been made.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment the Department has made of the cost-effectiveness of the proposed interview scheme in the Passport Office. [11182]
Andy Burnham: The Passport Service's Authentication by Interview (AbI) scheme is intended both to deter and to detect fraudulent applications among adult first time applicants but its business case has been constructed on its potential deterrent effect, for which evidence exists. UKPS data sampling has identified the first time adult channel as accounting for 74 per cent. of all fraudulent applications, although this group accounts for less than 10 per cent. of all applications processed annually by the Agency. AbI closes the loophole that currently exists in the postal application system by bringing together the physical applicant, and current biographical information, to ensure they are one and the same. A fraudster will now be faced with having to act out their false identity, and risk a real possibility of detection. There have been a number of instances in the past where the requirement to attend for interview would have enabled UKPS to identify a fraudulent application and prevent the issue of a passport in a false identity. The estimated cost of the scheme in its year of introduction is aggregated within the total estimated unit cost of £67.93 for 2006–07, published within the UKPS Corporate and Business Plan. The benefit the scheme is designed to deliver is in deterring fraudulent passport applications and thus contributing to the overall fight against identity fraud and reducing numbers of such frauds with consequent benefits to the individual and to the UK public and private sectors.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons his Department considers interviews to be the most effective way of targeting passport fraud; and what alternative methods for stopping fraud it has assessed. [11183]
Andy Burnham:
The introduction of interviews is one of a range of initiatives the UK Passport Service is taking forward to reduce passport fraud through improved detection and prevention, as indicated in its 2005–10 Corporate and Business Plan. The Passport Service's programme of work which has been informed
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by, and is closely related to the recommendations of the Cabinet Office study on identity fraud published in 2002, includes:
Improving systems and staff training in identity authentication, and increasing the professionalism of its fraud investigation capability;
Improving the security of the passport book, through the introduction of biometric chip enabled passports from 2006;
Use of its new Omnibase, and Lost/Stolen/Recovered global passport databases to detect and prevent fraud;
Working with law enforcement agencies to apprehend, disrupt and dismantle the activities of those involved in identity fraud; and
Supporting the work of the Home Office's Identity Fraud Steering Committee in promoting closer public/private sector collaboration in combating identity fraud.
The planned interviews will be conducted after improved checking of the information provided by applicants, including database checks. The interview will then enable genuine applicants to demonstrate their knowledge of the identity claimed but will face fraudulent applicants with the likelihood of detection. The interview will have an important deterrent effect, and will close off loopholes associated with illegal immigration where the applicant is often not in the UK and would be unable to answer questions related to residence in the UK. Only a procedure that includes an interview will enable the UKPS to confirm that the intended passport holder is the rightful owner of the identity claimed and to close the loophole that is inevitable when applications can be submitted by post.
Prisons
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inmates have escaped from prisons in London in each year since 1997. [8304]
Fiona Mactaggart: The table shows that there were seven KPI recorded escapes between the period 1997–98 to the present date.
An escape is classified as a escape if a prisoner is unlawfully at large for more than 15 minutes.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many UK prisons have (a) been refurbished and (b) newly built since 1997; [8461]
(2) how many prisons there are in England; and if he will list each prison. [8462]
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Fiona Mactaggart: Prisons in Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament and the Secretary of State for the Northern Ireland respectively.
Refurbishment in prisons occurs on a continuing basis, as the need arises. For example a wing, kitchen or gym may be refurbished, dependent on need. No prison has been refurbished in its entirety since 1997.
There have been nine newly built prisons opened in England and Wales since 1997.
There are 139 prisons in England and Wales. This includes three prisons which contain separate units located on one site: Moorland (open and closed), Usk/Prescoed and Grendon/Spring Hill. This number also includes Dover and Haslar, which are managed by the Prison Service on behalf of the immigration and nationality directorate. All prisons in England and Wales are listed as follows:
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average annual cost of keeping a person in prison was in the last period for which figures are available. [8989]
Fiona Mactaggart: In 2003–04 the average cost per prisoner was £25,377 for contracted prisons and £25,718 for public sector prisons.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders were held in prison awaiting deportation on 24 June, broken down by (a) those who have been awaiting deportation for (i) one week, (ii) two to four weeks, (iii) four to eight weeks, (iv) eight to 12 weeks and (v) more than 12 weeks and (b) nationality. [9002]
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Fiona Mactaggart: Information on the number of people who were detained in prison establishments awaiting deportation after completion of a criminal sentence is not available.
Work is ongoing to improve the quality of data held on those people detained under Immigration Act powers in Prison Service establishments.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacancies there were in each prison establishment for (a) prison officers and (b) other prison staff as at 24 June. [9003]
Fiona Mactaggart: The latest information on staff vacancies for each public sector prison establishment relates to staff in post at 31 May and is calculated by comparing the operational staffing requirements as at 30 June. This snapshot is contained in the table.
Information on required staffing levels within prisons managed by the private sector is not collected centrally in this form and is therefore not available.
Overall, Officer recruitment continues at a high level compared with previous years and the Service-wide shortfall among operational staff is well within an acceptable operating margin. To cover any vacancies in the short-term, certain establishments are allowing officers to work additional hours as part of the 'Contracted Supplementary Hours Scheme'. This scheme contributed the equivalent of 412 full-time officers at 31 March 2005. At that time the total operational staff availability was 25,858 compared to an operational staffing requirement of 26,087, resulting in a Service-wide shortfall of just 0.9 per cent.
Staffing levels in non-operational roles are more fluid and vacancy figures require qualification. This is in part due to the number of reviews taking place across the Prison Service and on-going work to introduce greater efficiencies which has led to decisions to leave posts unfilled.
Note:
Establishments showing —" currently have no shortfall of staff
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have escaped from each prison in the first six months of 2005; and how many have not been recaptured. [9004]
Fiona Mactaggart: In February 2005 there were two escapes from the Verne prison and both prisoners have been recaptured. There have been no other escapes during this period.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prison officers and (b) non-uniformed prison staff were working in Her Majesty's Prison Service on 24 June. [9005]
Fiona Mactaggart: On 31 May 2005, the closest day to 24 June for which information is available, there were (a) 24,400 officers and (b) 23, 774 other prison staff working in the public sector Prison Service. These two figures represent the total staffing of the public sector Prison Service but include 7,271 operational support grades and 1,131 nurses who would be expected towear a uniform. Non-uniformed staff carry out arange of functions, covering operational management, chaplaincy, psychology, industrial work, administration, catering and farms and gardens. Staffing numbers within privately managed establishments are not collected by the Office for Contracted Prisons and are therefore not available.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fires there were in prisons in the first five months of 2005, broken down by prison; and whether (a) prison staff and (b) prisoners were hurt in each case. [9006]
Fiona Mactaggart:
There have been 414 fires in prisons between 1 January and 31 May 2005. The following table gives a breakdown of incidents by establishment. Information is not held centrally on the number of staff or prisoners injured as a result of these incidents and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the sites which are under consideration for the building of new prisons. [9007]
Fiona Mactaggart: Although a number of sites have previously been identified as potentially suitable, no decision to buy a site has been made. If a site is under consideration for acquisition, details could not be disclosed for commercial reasons. Any Member in whose constituency where we have decided to buy a site or where we are planning to build a new prison will be kept up to date on developments by the Home Office.
The National Offender Management Service owns two sites at Merseyside and Thamesmead, London, but no decision has been taken to build on them.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons and detention centres are fitted with sprinkler equipment; and which areas of each such establishment are protected by the sprinkler system. [9008]
Fiona Mactaggart: Prison kitchens and workshops are the high risk areas in which sprinklers are widely installed. The only prison establishment that has sprinklers in the living accommodation is the prison ship HMP Weare.
The current situation with regard to sprinklers in Detention Centres is:
Dungavel—sprinklers installed within the new house block. Other areas managed by the fire evacuation strategy plans.
All prisons and detention centres manage fire risks by means of detailed evacuation and fire strategy plans.
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals were held in prisons in England and Wales on 24 June, broken down by (a) nationality and (b) prison. [9009]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is not available for 24 June. Information for 31 May 2005, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the tables.
(17) Figures include persons held in immigration removal centres at Dover, Haslar and Lindholme
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(18) Figures include persons held in immigration removal centres at Dover, Haslar and Lindholme.
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are serving a custodial sentence of (a) less than 12 months and (b) over 12 months, broken down by nationality and gender. [9012]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the following table.
(19) Figures include persons held in immigration removal centres at Dover, Haslar and Lindholme
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff have been recruited by the Prison Service since the managed recruitment ban was lifted. [9059]
Fiona Mactaggart: Between 1 April 2005, when the managed recruitment freeze was lifted, and 20 June, 1,107 staff have been recruited to Her Majesty's Prison Service.
The managed recruitment freeze did not affect contracted prisons and therefore they have been excluded from the figures.
Mrs. Gillan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacancies for staff in prison establishments there were on the last date for which figures are available; how many staff were working out their notice period; how many staff in
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prison establishments are expected to retire before 1 April; and how many staff he estimates are required to fill all posts at prison establishments. [9062]
Fiona Mactaggart: At 31 May 2005 23,869 prison officer grade staff were employed at public sector prison establishments (excluding Headquarters) against an operational staffing requirement of 24,530 at 30 June. In addition, the equivalent of 412 officers were available for operational duty through the contract supplementary hours scheme. Overall, operational staffing availability was therefore just one per cent below the operational staffing requirement. The Director General considers this to be within an acceptable operating margin.
For all grades of staff working in prison establishments (excluding headquarters) there was a shortfall between staff in post and operational staffing requirement of 1,459 (3.1 per cent.) at 30 June 2005. This
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figure represents a snapshot and does not take into account new staff still in the recruitment process. A total of 46,470 staff (covering all grades) would need to be employed in public sector prison establishments to fill all identified posts at 30 June 2005.
Information on the number of staff working out their notice is not recorded centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost. Between 1 June 2005 and 1 April 2006, 555 staff are expected to retire. Information on required staffing levels within prisons managed by the private sector is not collected centrally in this form and is therefore not available.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison cells were available for use at each prison establishment on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many prisoners could be housed in those cells. [9065]
Fiona Mactaggart: The total number of prison cells and other accommodation is not recorded centrally. The standard unit of prison accommodation is the prison place, which may be located in cells, cubicles, dormitories, rooms or wards. When totalled it represents the uncrowded capacity of a prison, or certified normal accommodation (CNA).
The total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold in its accommodation is the prison's operational capacity. It is determined by Prison Service area managers on the basis of operational judgment and experience, taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime.
Data on prison capacity in England and Wales, as at 24 June 2005 (the last date for which figures are available), is set out in table 1.
(20) Dover and Haslar in their entirety and 112 of Lindholme's places are designated immigration removal centres (IRCs), which are managed by the Prison Service on behalf of immigration and nationality directorate
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women were being held in prison on 24 June; how many prisoners were released on early release on 24 June; how many prisoners were eligible for early release on 24 June; and how many prisoners were released on 24 June. [9067]
Fiona Mactaggart:
On 24 June 2005 there were 71,578 males and 4,501 females held in prison establishments in England and Wales, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system. There were an estimated 154 prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years whose home detention curfew (HDC) eligibility date was 24 June 2005. On that date, 46 prisoners were released on HDC. Information on the number of prisoners discharged by other means on 24 June 2005 is
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not yet available. The number of prisoners with a sentence length of three months to less than four years will include some prisoners who are not eligible for HDC because of the nature of their current or previous offences. The figures also exclude a small number of prisoners in the population who are on remand at the end of the previous month, but are subsequently sentenced to a custodial sentence suitable for HDC and whose HDC eligibility date falls on that date. This occurs when they have spent a significant time on remand.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent on television licences for prisons, broken down by establishment, in 2004. [10166]
Fiona Mactaggart: Prisoners have access to television in-cell as part of the Incentive and Earned Privileges Scheme. Prisoners rent these sets for a weekly charge of £1. The revenue generated is used to pay for the televisions and their replacements. Televisions in-cell are covered by Crown exemption and do not require a television licence. A small number of televisions in communal areas of a prison are licensed. The amount of money spent by each establishment on television licences for these sets is not centrally recorded.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners aged (a) under 21 years, (b) 21 to 40 years, (c) 40 to 60 years and (d) over 60 years died of natural causes in each year since 2000, broken down by prison. [10184]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested with respect to apparent natural causes deaths in prisons in England and Wales is provided in the following table. Prisons, together with their local healthcare partners, assess the healthcare needs of their populations, whatever their age, and develop services to meet those needs. The National Offender Management Service, Prison Service and Department of Health are working closely together to improve health care provision for prisoners. Key achievements include developing better mental health provision, including NHS-funded in-reach teams; supporting improvements in primary care services; developing the prison health workforce and improving the prison health estate. NHS primary care trusts started to assume responsibility for the commissioning of prison health services in public prisons in England in April 2004. This process is expected to be completed by April 2006. All deaths in custody are subject to a coroner's inquest and (since April 2004) an investigation by the prisons and probation ombudsman (PPO). The PPO's recommendations are considered carefully and the reports are analysed to identify common trends, issues that need to be addressed and good practice examples that can be disseminated.
(21) To 4 July.
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Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) remand and (b) sentenced prisoners aged over 60 years are held in prisons in England and Wales, broken down by (i) prison, (ii) sex and (iii) ethnicity. [10185]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the tables. The breakdown by establishment and sex is for 31 May 2005. Information on the population by ethnic group is, at present, only available for 28 February 2003.
(22) Not including fine defaulters and non-criminals
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