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25 Jan 2006 : Column 2162W—continued
Equality and Diversity
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2005, Official Report, column 1254W, on equality and diversity, what definition of inappropriate behaviour was used; what testing was undertaken; and what conclusions were drawn in relation to the Home Office 2005 senior management promotion exercises. [28315]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Inappropriate behaviour was considered in terms of two skills from the Home Office Core Competency Framework—Promotes Equal Opportunity and Develops Good Working Relationships. Though these are defined positively in terms of treating people fairly and developing effective working relationships with others, both may be demonstrated in a range of inappropriate ways.
A range of exercises was designed to enable candidates to present evidence of their understanding of appropriate and inappropriate ways of handling different kinds of diversity-related situations. Candidates were tested through:
This is a management problem solving scenario which includes the assessment of Develops Good Working Relationships.
Candidates were presented with two short realistic diversity-related situations followed by questions on how they would deal with the situation (and why), assessing the skill Promotes Equal Opportunity.
Candidates were presented with two short video clips of diversity related situations to assess Promotes Equal Opportunity and Develops Good Working Relationships.
As with the Interview, candidates were asked questions to test their insight into the scenario and appropriateness of their responses. The 2005 Grade 7 Assessment Centre has not yet finished and no conclusions have yet been drawn.
Home Detention Curfews
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 December 2005, Official Report, column 2031W, on home detention curfews, how many of those offenders on home detention curfews that were recalled to custody were recalled for committing a criminal offence in each year since 1999. [42188]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Immigration Act
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of those detained under Immigration Act powers have been in detention for (a) less than one month, (b) over one month but less than three months and (c) over three months. [39521]
Mr. McNulty:
Quarterly snapshots are published showing the number of people detained under Immigration Act powers on the last Saturday of each quarter and these can be broken down by length of detention. Information on the number of persons
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detained, as at 24 September 2005, broken down by length of detention, are published in the Quarterly Asylum Bulletin, on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
Parliamentary Questions
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to questions (a) 20379, (b) 20380 and (c) 20381 tabled by the hon. Member for Thurrock on 18 October. [39874]
Hazel Blears: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 9 January 2006, Official Report, column 345W.
Prisons
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prisoners entering adult prisons and (b) under 21-year-olds entering young offenders institutions on their first custodial sentence could not read or write to a sufficiently high standard to apply for a job via a job centre (i) at the beginning and (ii) at the end of their sentence in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [43579]
Phil Hope: I have been asked to reply.
We do not collate the information requested centrally, however Home Office statistics show that 37 per cent. of prisoners have reading skills below level 1. (Prison Statistics for England and Wales 2002).
As a result of learning and skills provision in prisons, the number of basic skills awards achieved by offenders in custody exceeded 63,000 in 2004–05 and the National Probation Directorate exceeded its annual target for basic skills awards with nearly 9,500 awards achieved by offenders in the community.
The Green Paper, Reducing Re-offending through Skills and Employment" (Cm 6702) launched by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on 15 December, set out the Government's strategy to improve the skills and job prospects of all offenders, so that more offenders secure employment in order to reduce re-offending.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the quality of management and leadership in the Prison Service; and if he will make a statement. [44359]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Prison Service is about to start developing a new qualifications framework which will provide pre-promotion development for managers at all levels. It is anticipated that implementation will start in 2007.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were assessed as having a serious drug problem in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [44371]
Fiona Mactaggart:
In 2004–05, 59,025 initial assessments were completed by prison CARATs (counselling, assessment, referral, advice and through-care services ) teams. Research showed that on average 74 per cent. of those assessed by CARATs took two or
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more different drugs in the month before custody, with 39 per cent. taking both heroine and crack cocaine in this period.
Probation Service
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation hostels there are; and what the capacity is of each. [44300]
Fiona Mactaggart: The number of bed spaces in the 101 Approved Premises in England and Wales, as of 30 April 2005, are in the table. In addition, three Prospects projects have now opened providing an additional 32 beds, 24 of these are in the South West Region and eight in the North West. These are pilot projects providing specialist services for residents with a history of offending linked to drug misuse. These bring the current number of Approved Premises in England and Wales to 104.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect on the work of the Probation Service of transfers of prisoners between establishments; and if he will make a statement. [44336]
Fiona Mactaggart: An initial evaluation of the Offender Management Pathfinder project in the North West of England, published last summer, identified the transfer of prisoners as one of the challenges to implementing effective offender management. The report is available on the Home Office website as Home Office Online Report 32/05. The Prison Service aims to keep the transfer of prisoners to a minimum subject to operational priorities and circumstances.
Respect Action Plan
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of the production of the 'Respect Action Plan' document; and how many copies have been printed. [42649]
Hazel Blears:
The total costs for publishing the Respect Action Plan including editing proof reading, Type setting and Translating into Welsh was £101,000. In total 105,000 copies were printed.
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