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Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received on an all-Wales police force; and how manyof those representations were (a) in favour of and (b) opposed to such a force. [66024]
Mr. Byrne: The four Welsh police authorities submitted business cases in December, but at that point were unable to indicate a preferred option. They all recognise that a single strategic force for Wales is operationally viable, although they share some concerns. We have received various other representations, including from the forces, the Welsh Assembly and local authorities.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many students are taking part in policing foundation degree courses; what the cost of the programme will be in 2006-07; if he will list the forces that have opted into the project; and if he will make a statement. [70900]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 16 May 2006]: We do not have figures as to the numbers who are taking part in foundation degrees in these or other forces.
The Government are providing forces in 2006-07 and 2007-08 with funding for the initial police learning and development programme (IPLDP) of £3,000 per police officer recruit, up to a level of recruitment that maintains officer numbers at the level that they reached at 31 March 2005. This is a national programme that provides forces with flexibility to tailor their initial police training to local needs.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police there are in the Metropolitan police force. [68132]
Mr. Byrne: The information requested is availablein the “Police Service Strength publication as at30 September 2005”. This report was published on23 January 2006 and is available in the Library ofthe House and on: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb0106.pdf
Prison
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners were released on licence during each of the last eight financial years. [48789]
Mr. Sutcliffe: For an indication of the number released since 1997, see Table 7.1 of the “Home Office Statistical Bulletin: Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004”, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library. This table shows the number of receptionsinto prison establishments in each year since 1994.Chapter 10 of the same publication explains release arrangements for prisoners.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the earliest stage is in the criminal procedure at which evidence of an individual's nationality is requested; in what written form such information is (a) requested and (b) maintained; and on how many occasions and at what cost a translator has been used in such circumstances in each yearsince 1997. [69518]
Mr. Byrne: Section seven of the PACE Code on Practice on Detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers (Code C) requires that any person held in police detention who is a citizen of an independent Commonwealth country or a national of a foreign country, including the Republic of Ireland, may communicate at any time with the appropriate high commission, embassy or consulate. If the detainee is a citizen of a country with which a bilateral consular convention or agreement is in force requiring notification of arrest the appropriate high commission, embassy or consulate shall be informed as soon as practicable.
Establishing the nationality of a person suspected of involvement in an offence prior to this stage is not requested or required unless it is considered relevant to an offence. The information will be recorded on the person's custody record in accordance with section two of PACE Code C. Information is not held centrally on the number of such detainees or the cost of translators.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisons run remedial programmes for inmates with personality disorders. [51917]
Mr. Sutcliffe: HMP Dovegate and HMP Grendon run large therapeutic communities while HMP Gartree, HMP Blundeston and HMYOI Aylesbury run smaller therapeutic communities. A new women’s therapeutic community is being developed at HMP Send. These communities offer long term residential treatment programmes where emotional and psychological needs are addressed together with risk factors relating to offending behaviour.
For prisoners with dangerous and severe personality disorder, there are units at HMP Frankland and HMP Whitemoor. There is also a prison-based specialist in-reach service for up to 12 women who are dangerous as a result of a personality disorder which has recently opened at HMP Low Newton.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of (a) male, (b) female and (c) juvenile inmates have been diagnosed with (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) more than two mental health disorders; and if he will make a statement. [58211]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is not available in the form requested. The information available, from a survey of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales in 1997, by the Office for National Statistics, is shown in the following table.
| Percentage of mental disorders by prisoner type | |||
| Number of mental disorders | Male | Female | Young offenders |
| Source: Psychiatric Morbidity Amongst Prisoners in England and Wales (ONS, 1998) |
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2006, Official Report, column 1318W, on prisoners, what information his Department collects on prisoners who have Sky TV in their cells. [60351]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Prisoners' access to Sky television in-cell is based on a quarterly Incentives and Earned Privileges assessment, which incorporates records of recent behaviour and achievement. While the public sector Prison Service records relevant information on all prisoners, including their offence history and prison record, this information is not linked to records of prisoners who have access to Sky television.
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2006, Official Report, column 1318W, on prisoners, what the cost to the Prison Service is of prisoners receiving Sky TV in their cells. [60352]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sky television subscriptions in the four public sector prisons where it is available to some prisoners in cell cost £1,533.38 a month. However, 665 of the prisoners with access to Sky TV in cell are held in contracted-out prisons where the cost of the facility is not borne by the Prison Service.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the staff turnover rates were in prisons operated by the (a) public sector and (b) private sector in each of the last five years; what assessment he has made of the two figures; and if he will make a statement. [57760]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on the turnover rate of permanent staff, including retirements, within public sector Prison Service establishments is detailed in the following table. Information on staffing turnover in the contracted estate is not routinely collected and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Percentage | |
| Staff turnover in public sector prisons | |
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many mobile telephones have been recovered at each prison in each of the last12 months for which figures are available; how many of these telephones were recovered (a) as a resultof mobile telephone detectors and (b) after analysis of recovered handsets; and if he will make a statement. [48422]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is as follows:
(a) Mobile phone detectors are now being used more readily across the prison estate although the data of these finds is not recorded centrally.
From 1 September 2005 the National Dog and Technical Support Group has been recording details of
mobile phones and SIM cards that prisons have passed to them for specialist investigation. Data obtained cannot be broken down to identify those mobile phones and SIM cards found as a result of detectors.
(b) Data on the number of mobile phones found as a result of analysis of handsets is not recorded.
| Mobile phone and SIM card interrogation fiscal year record | |||||
| Establishment | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 |
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