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13 Jul 2005 : Column 1094W—continued
Overseas Prisoners
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what records are kept in relation to the presence in UK territory, airspace or airports, for transit or for longer temporary periods, of prisoners detained by states other than the UK. [7903]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, the Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Convicted Offenders, and bilateral prisoner transfer agreements to which the UK is a party, enables a contracting party to transit through UK airports to another contracting party, or to a third party, where transfer has been agreed in accordance with the relevant international agreement.
One or two requests for transit are received each year. Transit enables a prisoner and escort to transfer from one commercial flight to another at Heathrow or Gatwick airport. The prisoner and foreign escort remain in UK territory for a matter of hours and overnight transit is not allowed. Records of transit applications are not kept once the transit has been completed.
Parenting Skills
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment his Department has made of the value of teaching parenting skills to parents in combating juvenile antisocial behaviour and crime; and if he will make a statement. [3038]
Fiona Mactaggart
[holding answer 13 June 2005]: Parenting is strongly relevant to juvenile antisocial and criminal behaviour and can be associated with increased risk or it can be a factor which protects children and young people from being involved in such behaviour. There is evidence, however, particularly from the United States, that parenting interventions which
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include the improvement of parenting skills can be effective in reducing antisocial and criminal behaviour.
An independent evaluation of the Youth Justice Board's parenting programme published in 2002 found that most parents valued the parenting programmes they had undertaken and wished they had received such support earlier. The study observed a reduction in offending but the lack of a comparison group meant that this could not be attributed to parenting programmes.
Youth Offending Teams have adapted programmes underpinned by evidence of effectiveness and some have developed their own programmes based on such evidence. Since 2002 the Youth Justice Board has introduced an effective practice quality assurance review process as part of a management system to improve the quality and volume of parenting interventions being delivered by Youth Offending Teams.
Police
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are held in each prison in Lancashire; and how many prison officers are employed in each prison. [11071]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is provided in the following table . The figures for the population of each establishment are as recorded on the Prison Service IT system on 31 May 2005. Figures for the number of prison officers at each establishment are for 30 June 2005, and include both full and part-time officers.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to announce the basis of the calculation for the new police authority funding formula due in 2006–07. [11208]
Hazel Blears [holding answer 12 July 2005]: We expect a 12 week consultation period on options for formula change to begin in late July with the aim of introducing a revised formula for the 2006–07 funding settlement.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the Independent Police Complaints Commission's target is for (a) examination of and (b) reporting on a complaint against the police from the date of registration of the complaint; and what the average time taken has been since the IPCC was set up. [10913]
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Hazel Blears [holding answer 11 July 2005]: The Independent Police Complaints Commission is responsible for the management of the police complaints system. I will ensure that the chairman receives a copy of the question and replies to the hon. Member directly. Copies of the letter containing the IPCC's response will be placed in the Library.
Prisoners
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2005, Official Report, column 491W, on prison education, how many offenders were in custody in each year between 2002–03 and 2004–05. [7372]
Fiona Mactaggart: The population of prison establishments in England and Wales on 30 June in each year in question, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the table. The figures include remand prisoners.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 71,218 |
| 2003 | 73,657 |
| 2004 | 74,488 |
Information on Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for my colleagues in the Scottish Executive and Northern Ireland Office.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are held in (a) Garth and (b) Wymott prisons; and how many prison officers there are in each per prisoner. [6612]
Fiona Mactaggart: The population of HMP Garth was 640 and the population of HMP Wymott 1,042 on 31 May 2005, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system.
There are 225 prison officers working at HMP Garth, resulting in a ratio of 0.35 officers per prisoner. There are 252 prison officers working at HMP Wymott, with a ratio of 0.24 officers per prisoner. These figures include both full and part-time officers, and are for 31 May 2005.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many assaults on staff there were at Rye Hill Prison during 2004–05; [6094]
(2) how many assaults on prisoners there were at Rye Hill Prison during 2004–05. [6095]
Fiona Mactaggart: At HMP Rye Hill during the financial year 2004–05 there were 33 assaults upon staff and 12 assaults upon prisoners that were proven at adjudication hearings.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases there were of prisoners (a) absconding and (b) escaping at Rye Hill Prison during 2004–05. [6096]
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Fiona Mactaggart: During the financial year 2004–05 one prisoner escaped from a hospital escort being undertaken by staff from HMP Rye Hill. There were no absconds during this period.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases there were of doors unlocked at Rye Hill Prison during 2004–05. [6097]
Fiona Mactaggart: Internal incident reports compiled at Rye Hill show that during 2004–05 a total of eight security gates or doors, including one cell door, were reported as being found unlocked.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the proportion of prisoners who have spent time in care. [7294]
Fiona Mactaggart: Information from the 2001 Criminality Survey notes that 27 per cent. of prisoners had spent time in care as a child. This is closely in line with the equivalent figure of 26 per cent. as found by the 1991 National Prison Survey.
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the prison population has spent time in the care of a local authority. [7884]
Fiona Mactaggart: Information from the 2001 Criminality Survey notes that 27 per cent. of prisoners had spent time in care as a child. This is closely in line with the equivalent figure of 26 per cent. as found by the 1991 National Prison Survey.
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners he estimates have (i) alcohol and (ii) drug abuse problems. [5780]
Fiona Mactaggart: This information is not collected centrally.
Epidemiological studies show that:
(a) 63 per cent. of sentenced males (39 per cent. females) report hazardous drinking in the year prior to prison; and
(b) on average, 55 per cent. of prisoners report a serious drug problem (51 per cent. of male remand prisoners and 54 per cent. of female remands admitted drug dependency—ONS 1997).
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase opportunities for prisoners to play team sport; and if he will make a statement. [2702]
Fiona Mactaggart: The importance of physical education in prisons is well recognised. All prisons are required to deliver PE that meets the need of the regime, supports the delivery of education and vocational training, contributes to the resettlement of prisoners and delivers programmes that have been specifically developed to support offending behaviour interventions. The percentage, balance and contents that each PE programme contains will depend upon national and local needs. In 2004–05 some 7.9 million hours of PE were delivered within prisons in the public sector. The total number of hours achieved in contracted establishments is not centrally held, although all prisoners in contracted prisons are offered the opportunity to undertake PE on a frequent basis.
The importance of team games is well recognised and each prisons PE programme should include a range of team sports that are delivered in line with the respective sports governing body guidelines. A wide range of governing body coaching and performance awards are delivered across the prison estate to encourage participation in team sports. In addition each prison should have a nominated Community Sport Liaison Officer. Part of their role is to encourage participation, where this is appropriate, in local sports leagues.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were recalled for failing to adhere to home detention curfew conditions during the first five months of 2005 in each prison region. [9010]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested, as recorded on the Prison Service IT system, is provided in the table. The figures refer to the region in which the establishment is located from which the prisoner was discharged, and relate to all prisoners subject to the Home Detention Curfew Scheme who had their licences revoked in the period in question.
(19) based on information recorded on the Prison Service IT system at week ending 25 June 2005. Further updates and amendments may be made to records on this system in future, resulting in revised figures.
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