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6 Mar 2006 : Column 1135W—continued
Driving Offences (Mobile Phones)
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) £30 fixed penalties have been issued and (b) people have been taken to court for using a mobile phone while driving in each month since December 2003. [54991]
Hazel Blears:
Driving whilst using a hand held mobile phone became an offence from one December 2003. 1,888 fixed penalty notices were issued for this offence in England and Wales in December 2003. Data for 2004 will not be available until late March 2006. Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of defendants proceeded against at the magistrates courts for offences under Road Vehicles (Construction & Use ) Regs 1986.
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Reg 110 (1), England and Wales, 2004 is given in the table. There are no records of prosecutions for this offence as the principal offence in December 2003.
(31) All data given refer to the principal offence only.
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Electronic Offender Monitoring
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 February 2006, Official Report, column 1980W in how many of the 700 cases of damage to electronic offender monitoring equipment offenders were found to be in breach of their licence conditions and recalled to prison. [54662]
Fiona Mactaggart: The information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps have been taken by regional offender managers to improve operational efficiency within the National Probation Service. [50238]
Fiona Mactaggart: The National Probation Service has improved its performance dramatically over the last four years with virtually all its delivery targets being achieved. This has been done through collaboration, benchmarking, the promotion of good practice and by rigorous performance management by the National Probation Directorate. From 1 April 2006, Regional Offender Managers will hold Service Level Agreements with Probation Boards for the delivery of Offender Management and Interventions.
From this point on, ROMs will supplement the existing performance management arrangements. The process of monitoring delivery against SLAs provides the mechanism for ROMs to challenge and promote improvements in operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Police
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of arrests per police officer was in each of the last seven years in (a) Romford, (b) each London borough and (c) England and Wales. [52310]
Hazel Blears: The information is not held centrally in the form requested as arrests statistics are collected on a recorded crime basis only.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the police authorities that suggested that they would seek federation rather than amalgamation in their response to Closing the Gap; and if he will make a statement. [47498]
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Hazel Blears [holding answer 31 January 2006]: Of the police authority submissions received in December 2005, four authorities expressed an interest in federated options but did not submit a costed business case for this arrangement. These authorities were: Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire and Sussex.
In addition to this I have now received a further joint submission from Gloucestershire, Dorset and Wiltshire making the case for a strategic alliance" in delivery of services. This option will undergo an assessment of its potential to deliver protective services to the required standard, and a financial assessment.
Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes there have been in police numbers at basic command level in the South Wales police in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [55995]
Hazel Blears: Information on the number of police officers for each basic command unit (BCU) in the South Wales police for each year since March 2002 is set out in the table. This information was not collected before 2002. The deployment of police officers to BCUs is an operational matter for the chief constable (Barbara Wilding QPM).
I understand from the chief constable that the decline in BCU strength between March 2004 and March 2005 is due to the transfer of custody officers to a centrally managed criminal justice unit and the creation of operational support teams also centrally resourced. Although these officers continue to be based within each BCU they are not under its control. These changes have been cosmetic and do not reduce the number of officers available for front-line duties in each of the BCUs.
Source:
(32) Annual statistical data collection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.
(33) Annual statistical data collection by Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate.
Prisoners
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average cost was of housing a prisoner in a low security prison in 2004–05. [54663]
Fiona Mactaggart:
The average annual cost of housing a person in an open, or semi-open, establishment in England and Wales for the financial year 2004–05 is shown in the following table.
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These figures excludes the element of headquarters overheads, and includes the cost of capital on all Prison Service land and buildings, plus the cost of depreciation on
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buildings. These indirect costs cannot be disaggregated at establishment level. Therefore the costs are not comparable with whole service cost per prisoner figures.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners underwent treatment for drugs dependence in Lancashire in each of the last five years. [54660]
Fiona Mactaggart: I refer the hon. member to PQ 53395 which contains the information he requires.
Prisons
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his policy is on unaccompanied prison visits by teenage family members of prisoners. [55079]
Fiona Mactaggart: The protection of children within a prison environment is a key concern. For a routine social visit, children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. For those aged 16 and 17, subject to a full assessment of risk, the governor has the discretion to allow them to visit unaccompanied. Special arrangements exist for unaccompanied child-centred visits. Guidance will shortly be issued to prisons clarifying the position.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the long-term cost effectiveness of (a) building new prison facilities and (b) making year-on-year repairs to buildings. [55480]
Fiona Mactaggart: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has a continuing duty to maintain the prison estate and to provide capacity for those committee by the courts within its allocated budget. To determine whether it is more cost-effective either to refurbish buildings or to replace them by building new facilities, any proposed major property investment in the prison estate includes an assessment of the whole lifecycle cost of the project.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual cost has been per patient at (a) Rampton hospital, (b) Broadmoor hospital and (c) HM prison Grendon in each of the last three years. [55489]
Fiona Mactaggart: The average annual cost per prisoner held at Grendon prison, for the last three financial years is shown in the following table. These figures exclude the element of headquarters overheads, including the cost of capital on all Prison Service land and buildings, plus the cost of depreciation on buildings. These indirect costs cannot be disaggregated at establishment level.
Therefore the costs are not comparable with whole Service cost per prisoner figures. Responsibility for Rampton and Broadmoor hospitals falls to the Department of Health who provided the information on them. Information about the cost per bed at these hospitals has been obtained from Department of Health and is shown in the following table. In contrast to the costs for Grendon, the costs for Rampton and Broadmoor include all overheads and capital charges.
| Cost per bed (£) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Financial year | Rampton hospital | Broadmoor hospital |
| 2002–03 | 142,390 | 140,000 |
| 2003–04 | 168,750 | 152,650 |
| 2004–05 | 202,920 | 169,200 |
| Cost per bed (£) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Financial year | Rampton hospital | Broadmoor hospital |
| 2002–03 | 142,390 | 140,000 |
| 2003–04 | 168,750 | 152,650 |
| 2004–05 | 202,920 | 169,200 |
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of prisoners at HM prison Springhill are from the Thames Valley area. [55493]
Fiona Mactaggart: The proportion of prisoners at Springhill prison from the Thames Valley area on 1 March 2006 was approximately 70 per cent.
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the average number of transfers between prisons that a category A prisoner will make before trial over a period of (a) six months, (b) 12 months, (c) 18 months and (d) two years. [55517]
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Fiona Mactaggart: Category A prisoners on remand are held in one of six high security prisons with a remand facility. These are Belmarsh, Frankland, Manchester, Long Lartin, Woodhill and Wakefield. Allocation is normally based on the location of the court where the defendant is due to appear.
Remand prisoners would not routinely be transferred prior to conviction unless there were specific grounds, such as issues of security or the transfer of the case to another court. Statistics on the number of such moves are not kept.
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