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11 July 2006 : Column 1786W—continued
Personal Documentation (Verification)
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether police officers are required to verify when requested the authenticity of personal documentation on occasions when the public are required by financial organisations to send verified copies of the personal documentation by post. [84050]
Ed Balls: I have been asked to reply.
The 2003 Money Laundering Regulations place a responsibility on financial institutions and other firms in the regulated sector to verify the identity of their customers.
Prisons
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women have (i) committed and (ii) attempted self-inflicted death in each prison in England and Wales in each of the last five years. [80836]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There is no definition of what constitutes an attempt at self-inflicted death, as it is very difficult to measure suicidal intent. For the number of apparent self-inflicted deaths in each prison in England and Wales, 2001-05, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) on 20 March 2006, Official Report, column 122W, where this information was requested for the time period 1996-2005. As that question did not differentiate between men and women, the following table shows the number of apparent self-inflicted deaths involving women in each prison in England and Wales, 2001-05.
| Number of apparent self-inflicted deaths involving female prisoners | |||||
| Establishment | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to provide literacy training in the Welsh language for prisoners from Wales. [84186]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 10 July 2006]: All education and training delivery in Welsh prisons is available through the medium of the Welsh language, including literacy training. Data on the provision of literacy training in the Welsh language in English prisons are not collected centrally.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to provide for religious needs of prisoners through the medium of Welsh. [84187]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 10 July 2006]: Chaplaincy teams in prisons in Wales are committed to meeting the religious needs of all prisoners, including through the Welsh language. All teams have access to Christian clergy who are able to conduct worship in Welsh. For other religions, networks exist to enable a relevant minister to be found. Chaplaincy leaflets setting out the programme of activities are being produced in Welsh. Provision for Welsh speaking prisoners held in prisons in England will be made on an as needs basis, as for prisoners who require religious provision in any other language.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to ensure the provision of Welsh medium software in prison IT training centres. [84188]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 10 July 2006]: Software used in IT training in prisons in Wales is available in the Welsh language. Data on the availability of Welsh medium software in IT training centres in English prisons are not collected centrally.
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to ensure that prison libraries have an adequate stock of Welsh and Welsh language (a) books, (b) periodicals and (c) newspapers for the use of prisoners from Wales; and how much was spent on providing them in each of the last three years. [84189]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 10 July 2006]: Prison Service Order 6710 on prison libraries requires the library to cater for the informational, cultural, occupational and recreational needs of all prisoners. Each prison, in conjunction with the local public library authority who provide library services in prisons, ensures that the individual needs of the establishment are met, and follows quality and performance indicators which require a range of materials, such as books, magazines and newspapers, to be made available in a range of languages. Because of this local approach to meeting the individual needs of offenders the amount spent on providing such material is not collected centrally.
Hywel Williams:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in place to ensure that prisoners from Wales are able to access Welsh and Welsh language television and radio
programmes whilst being held in prisons outside Wales. [84190]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 10 July 2006]: Welsh prisoners held in English prisons will have access to Welsh language television and radio programmes through standard terrestrial television and domestic radio. Prisoners will be able to receive Welsh programmes where the signal is strong enough or when programmes are broadcast nationwide.
Psilocin/Psilocybin
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he last asked the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs to review the classification of (a) psilocin and (b) psilocybin; [79000]
(2) what criteria were used for the classification of (a) psilocin and (b) psilocybin as class A drugs; [78997]
(3) how many deaths have been caused by (a) psilocin and (b) psilocybin in each of the last 10 years. [78998]
Mr. Coaker: The classification of psilocin and psilocybin has not been reviewed by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The classification of psilocin and psilocybin as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, since that Act came into force on 1 July 1973, reflects the United Kingdom’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971. Psilocin and psilocybin (and many similar drugs) were included in Schedule one to the 1971 Convention, reflecting international consensus that these substances should be subject to the highest level of control. HM Government placed these substances in Part I of Schedule two to the 1971 Act as Class A drugs. The information on deaths from psilocin and psilocybin is not held.
Racism (Prison Officers)
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prison officers have been (a) disciplined and (b) dismissed for racism in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [82969]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Central records on disciplinary cases involving public sector prison staff are currently being revalidated by reference to records held in individual prisons. I will write to the hon. Lady with the information requested once this exercise has been completed.
Reoffending
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the reoffending rates have been of (a) adults, (b) young offenders and (c) juveniles who have served (i) custodial and (ii) community sentences, in each of the last nine years for which figures are available, broken down by offence. [83340]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The most recent publication for adult reoffending is “Adult Re-offending: Results from the 2002 cohort”, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 25/05, available online at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hosb2505.pdf
Similarly for juveniles the most recent publication is “Juvenile Re-offending: Results from the 2004 Cohort”, Home Office On-Line Report 10/06, available online at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1006.pdf
Both of these publications hold breakdowns by those who served custodial or community sentences, age and offence. The section "Measuring Re-offending", which begins on page one of both reports, explains the difference between reconviction and re-offending measures, as well the changes to the data source used for these computations. Because of the change in methodology, figures for previous years are not comparable.
Sentencing
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the variation in severity of sentences for crimes between regions of England and Wales at (a) magistrates courts and (b) Crown courts in each year since 1997; what plans he has to reduce such variation; and if he will make a statement. [83608]
Mr. Sutcliffe
[holding answer 10 July 2006]: Information on sentencing by criminal justice area is contained in chapter five of “Sentencing Statistics 2004” (ISSN 1358-510X). In the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the Government established the Sentencing Guidelines Council to frame sentencing guidelines for the courts. In doing so, it is required among other things to have regard to the need
to promote consistency in sentencing. It began work in 2004 and has issued four final guidelines to date.
Speeding Offences
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the trigger levels for prosecution of speeding offences were in each region of England and Wales in each year since 1997; what plans he has to reduce variations in the trigger levels between regions; and if he will make a statement. [83607]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 10 July 2006]: Decisions on the appropriate action to take when a speeding offence is detected are an operational matter for the police. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has issued speed enforcement guidelines, available on the ACPO website at www.acpo.police.uk/policies.asp It is for individual chief officers of police to decide on the adoption of these guidelines by their forces. They do not override the discretion of individual officers.
Unlawful Sexual Intercourse
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females were (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted of unlawful sexual intercourse in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [66907]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Data from the Court Proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform on the number of males prosecuted and convicted for offences relating to sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 16, are contained in the following table. There were no prosecutions or convictions of females for these offences. Statistics for 2005 court proceedings will be available in the autumn of 2006.
| Number of males, proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty( 1) at all courts for offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956(8.5 and S.6) and Sexual Offences Act 2003 England and Wales, 2000-04( 2) | ||||||||||
| 2000( 3) | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | ||||||
| Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | |
| (1) The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against, as it may be the case that the proceedings in the magistrates court took place in the preceding year and they were found guilty at the Crown Court in the following year. (2) These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (3) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. | ||||||||||
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