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19 Oct 2006 : Column 1353W—continued
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The maximum frequency and duration of child care resettlement leave were decided in consultation with prison operational managers across the estate, including those responsible for the care of women prisoners, who considered these parameters to be sufficient to enable prisoners to maintain their relationships with their children while maintaining public confidence in temporary release. The new policy provides a clear structure to the frequency and duration of temporary releases for child care purposes. Prisoners continue to have access to prison visits and the Special Purpose
Licence is also available to prisoners to deal with emergencies relating to their parental duties, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria and passing a risk assessment.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the basis was for the decision to change the eligibility for release on temporary licence from that of primary carer status to sole carer status under Prison Service Order 6300. [93755]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Feedback received from prisons and external consultees during the development of the new policy established that the needs of sole carers needed to be met more consistently across the estate while better addressing public confidence in temporary release. The new Childcare Resettlement Licence was specifically designed to ensure that sole carers would be able to maintain their relationships with their children through their sentence (provided they otherwise met the requirements for ROTL, including passing a risk assessment).
The previous temporary release policy set out in Instruction to Governors 36/1995 defined a primary carer as “a prisoner who on release at the end of sentence will have the sole responsibility of caring for a child under the age of 16 years”. The new policy broadens eligibility by allowing prisoners access to child care resettlement leave whether or not the prisoner will be released before the child’s 16th birthday. Prisoners become ineligible for childcare resettlement leave only when their child attains the age of 16 years.
Prison Estate
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his statement of 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 32, on the prison estate, how many category C prisoners he expects to be transferred from HMP Coldingley to open prisons. [94972]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Prisoners can only be allocated to open conditions if they are categorised D, the lowest security category. Each prisoner will be subject to a rigorous and robust risk assessment covering a range of factors to ensure their suitability for open conditions. It is not possible to accurately predict the number of prisoners who will be sent to open prisons from Coldingley prison.
Prison Service
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reason the Prison Service London area uses the Great Westminster Clock as the logo on their letterheads rather than HM Prison Service logo; who authorised such use; and if he will make a statement. [93966]
Mr. Sutcliffe: London area office uses the Great Westminster Clock alongside the Prison Service logo on its paperwork, not instead of it. A number of groups within the Prison Service use their own logos alongside the Prison Service logo. The use of the clock was authorised by the area manager.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent by (a) HM Prison Service and (b) his Department on investigations conducted by Mr. Ron Tasker in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [94362]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Mr. Tasker has conducted a wide range of investigations in the last three years for various areas of the Home Office. To establish the exact costs of these investigations would involve disproportionate cost.
Prisons
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the outcomes for the women prisoners of Drake Hall and their children of (a) Drake Hall’s interpretation of the Prison Service Order (PSO) providing for the Primary Carer Home Leave and (b) Drake Hall’s implementation of PSO 6300 from January 2006. [93752]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In support of the Government’s National Action Plan for Reducing Re-offending, the Prison Service recently published its “Strategy and resource guide for the resettlement of women prisoners”. This highlights many factors that contribute to positive resettlement outcomes. Research specifically on the impact of temporary release on outcomes in prison has not been carried out and there are no plans to do so.
However, the Prison Service recently requested feedback from female establishments, including Drake Hall, about the introduction of the new Childcare Resettlement licence; the responses were positive and suggest the new licence has not generally decreased levels of temporary release to prisoners. Some establishments have reported an increase in the use of temporary release to visit children—as was intended.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library the feedback from prison establishments collected during the development of the policy that established Prison Service Order 6300; and whether this feedback included direct feedback from prisoners who were (a) primary and (b) sole carers. [93754]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is not available in a form that can be easily placed in the Library and could be produced only at disproportionate cost. Prisoners were not asked directly to contribute to the development of Prison Service Order 6300 but a number of external agencies were asked for their views on how the previous ROTL policy could be improved. Those consulted included Action for Prisoners’ Families, National Advisory Council for the Independent Monitoring Boards, Partners of Prisoners Group, HM Inspectorate of Prisons and NACRO.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what value of phone cards each prisoner receives free of charge annually. [94199]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Prisoners’ telephone calls are now managed under the Pinphone system. Prisoners no longer purchase phonecards, they buy credits in units which are added to their personal Pinphone telephone account.
On first reception into prison, a number of prisons provide prisoners with a short domestic call, at public expense. Additionally, public expense calls are offered to prisoners to resolve urgent domestic crises and also a five minute call to prisoners with close family living abroad who have not received a domestic visit during the preceding month.
Detail of the value of the calls made on the Pinphone system cannot be disclosed as it is commercially sensitive. The value of calls made on official telephones is not recorded centrally.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the incidence was of further offences whilst on release on temporary licence under the prison service order providing for primary carer home leave by (a) women prisoners at Drake Hall under the Drake Hall Governor’s interpretation allowing prisoners to spend up to five days in every 28-day period at home with their children and (b) women prisoners from prisons other than HMP Drake Hall in the five years prior to 2006; [94258]
(2) what the incidence of further offences by women prisoners whilst on release on temporary licence for childcare resettlement leave has been following the introduction of Prison Service Order 6300 in January; [94259]
(3) what the incidence of further offences whilst on release on temporary licence for reasons other than childcare resettlement leave by (a) female prisoners and (b) male prisoners has been since January. [94260]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is not available.
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Prison Service and (b) the National Offender Management Service about building a category C prison at Ford; [94783]
(2) what proposals he has received on the building of a category C prison at Ford in West Sussex. [94788]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have received no proposals and there have been no discussions about the building of a category C prison at Ford.
Probation Service
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent in real terms on the Probation Service in each of the last 20 years; and what expenditure is planned for each of the next three years. [93555]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not possible to provide figures for the last 20 years. The resource funding to the National Probation Service from 2001-02 to 2007-08 expressed in real terms is as follows:
| £ million | |
| (1 )indicative | |
The figures have been expressed in real terms by adjusting where possible for organisational change, technical accounting changes, and for inflation (using Treasury Discount factors where 2004-05 = 100).
Planned funding is not yet available beyond 2007-08.
Victims of Crime (Code of Practice)
Mr. O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department has taken under the code of practice for victims of crime. [95103]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The code of practice for victims of crime came into force on 3 April 2006. It sets out the standards of service, support and information to which victims are entitled. A number of Home Office agencies and other criminal justice agencies are required to provide services under the code of practice:
Police forces—initial identification of all vulnerable or intimidated victims; keeping victims up to date on at least a monthly basis on progress in their case; informing all victims when a suspect is arrested, bailed or charged; referring victims to Victim Support.
The Crown Prosecution Service—notifying victims about decisions not to bring any proceedings following receipt of the full evidential report and of any decision substantially to alter or drop any charge.
Witness Care Units—meeting the minimum requirement for passing on all court results received from courts to victims.
Her Majesty’s Courts Service—ensuring court results get passed to Witness Care Units.
Youth Offending Teams—contacting victims, where relevant, to discuss their involvement in a restorative justice intervention; keep victims informed about the progress of the intervention if they wish.
The Prison Service—maintaining the telephone helpline for victims to call if they have unwanted contact from a prisoner.
The Probation Service—meeting their statutory obligations to keep certain victims informed of the key stages in an offender’s sentence and to find out if those victims wish to make representations about licence conditions.
The Parole Board—must consider any representations that victims have offered to the Probation Service on the conditions to be included in the release licences and information regarding the victim that relates to the current risk presented by a prisoner in deciding whether or not to grant or recommend release.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority—must respond to all correspondence regarding applications for compensation no later than 20 days from receipt of the letter; inform the applicant of their right to a review of their decision.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel—must respond to all correspondence relating to the appeal case no later than 20 days from receipt of the letter; ensure explanations for appeal decisions are available to applicants.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission—must consider the extent of contact to be made with the victim and if they decide to contact the victim they should update them when the case in under review and if requested notify them of their decision.
Vulnerable and intimidated victims are entitled to an enhanced level of service under the code. If victims feel they have not received the level of service to which they are entitled, they have a route of complaint to the agency concerned. If the response from the agency is not satisfactory, victims can complain to the parliamentary ombudsman via their local MP.
The Office for Criminal Justice Reform provided support to Local Criminal Justice Boards in implementing the code during the months leading up to its introduction.
Yarl's Wood
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to implement the recommendations made by HM Inspector of Prisons in her two reports upon Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre; and if he will make a statement. [94993]
Mr. Byrne: In line with established practice and the protocol agreed with HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, our responses to these reports will take the form of action plans setting out which recommendations are accepted and the action that has been or will be taken to implement them. The two action plans are in the process of being finalised and, once agreed, will be submitted to HM Chief Inspector. Many of the recommendations contained in both reports have already been implemented, or are in the process of being so.
International Development
Aid
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of British aid. [92945]
Hilary Benn: The effectiveness of British aid is assessed against the targets set out in DFID’s public service agreement and in DFID’s efficiency programme, which cover the period 2005-08. The most recent assessment is contained in the departmental report 2006, which was published in May. The next assessment will be contained in DFID’s autumn performance report, which will be published in December. All DFID projects and programmes over £1 million in value are reviewed annually. Currently, 74 per cent. of those projects are judged to be largely or wholly meeting their objectives. DFID also has a framework for monitoring the effectiveness of our contributions to multilateral agencies, and a programme of independent evaluations of major policies and country programmes.
Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the role is of the Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE OT) within his Department; in which countries it has been operational in the last three years; how many staff are based in CHASE OT; and if he will make a statement. [94428]
Mr. Thomas: The Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department Operations Team (CHASE OT) is a team of expert consultants that supports DFID’s humanitarian response to sudden and complex disasters.
At present the team has 35 posts. In the last three years it has deployed staff and relief supplies to many countries, including Sudan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Guatemala, El Salvador, Guyana, Pakistan, Lebanon, Russia, North Korea, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, the Caribbean, Haiti, Colombia, Afghanistan, Iran, USA, Morocco, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Iraq.
The team helps DFID to respond rapidly and effectively to crises overseas, saving lives and alleviating suffering.
Databases (Security Breaches)
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external sources in each case; how many records were compromised on each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned. [92838]
Mr. Thomas: There have been no known breaches of databases controlled by DFID in the last five years.
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