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11 Jan 2007 : Column 654W—continued

Home Department

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will consider the merits of allowing failed asylum seekers who are too frightened to agree to support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 to continue to receive support from the National Asylum Support Service. [109724]

Mr. Byrne: Asylum seekers whose applications have been refused and whose appeal rights are exhausted have been found not to require international protection. They are therefore required to leave the UK. Section 4 support is available to failed asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and for whom there is a temporary barrier to leaving the UK. This includes the provision of accommodation where this is necessary for the purpose of avoiding a breach of a person’s Convention rights, within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Drug Intervention Programme

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the accuracy is in percentage terms of devices used to screen individuals under his Department’s Drug Intervention Programme. [110094]

Mr. Coaker [holding answer 18 December 2006]: The Drug Interventions Programme uses an oral fluid drug testing system capable of screening for opiates and crack/cocaine. The current equipment supplier is Cozart Bioscience Ltd.

The Home Office monitors the performance of the equipment provided by Cozart Bioscience Ltd and this arrangement is part of the contractual requirement, two in every 100 samples are required to be sent to the independent confirmatory testing service for quality assurance. Management data over a six month period consistently demonstrate that more than 98 per cent. of samples analysed by the independent confirmatory testing service are confirmed as accurate.

In addition to internal monitoring, scientific studies confirm the effectiveness of the oral fluid drug testing method (refs) and independent peer reviewed scientific papers have been published confirming the accuracy of the Cozart Rapiscan oral fluid drug testing system (refs).

Government Art Collection

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of artwork
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commissioned by the Government Art Collection for installation in the new Home Office building. [109577]

Mr. Byrne: £55,260 including installation costs and VAT where payable has been spent so far on the Interior Art Strategy at 2 Marsham Street.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate will reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green of 26 October 2006 regarding a constituent Mr. Swetang Joshi (Home Office reference J1012195). [113420]

Mr. Byrne: I wrote to the hon. Member on 8 January 2007.

Prisons

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners and what proportion of the prison population (a) were sentenced for drugs offences and (b) were imprisoned for committing an offence which was in some way drug-related in each year since 1997 for which figures are available. [113618]


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Mr. Sutcliffe: In response to (a), information on the numbers and proportion of offenders held within prison establishments in England and Wales in each year since 1997 can be found in the following table which is taken from table 8.2 of the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 which can be accessed at the following website:

In response to (b), comprehensive information is not available in the form requested. However, the Criminality Survey in 2000 produced findings based on a representative sample of recently arrived male prisoners (excluding sex offenders) who had been sentenced during February and March 2000 which showed that nearly three quarters of prisoners in the sample had taken an illegal drug in the 12 months pre-prison; of these, over half (55 per cent.) reported that they had committed offences connected to their drug taking.

Results of research into this area can be found in the publication “Prisoners’ drug use before prison and links with crime”, by Liriano, S. and Ramsay, M. (2003), a Home Office Research Study.

The figures provided in answer to (a) have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level.

Population in prison establishments( 1) in England and Wales since 1997 for drugs offences
As at 30 June each year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Total prisoners under immediate custodial sentence

48,674

52,159

51,293

53,093

54,169

57,272

59,393

60,924

62,179

Drug offences

7,174

7,893

8,169

8,473

9,148

10,067

10,330

10,486

10,661

Drug offences as percentage of total

15

15

16

16

17

18

17

17

17

(1) Excluding police cells.
Note:
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and so although shown to the last individual, the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Source:
Table 8.2 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many years of experience the previous Head of Operations at HM Prison Pentonville had in the operations area when appointed to the post; what training he received in (a) intelligence analysis, (b) informant handling and (c) the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [113693]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The previous Head of Operations had six years prison service experience and had appropriate experience for the post.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which establishments members of the investigation team in respect of the allegations of staff wrongdoing at HM Prison Pentonville have been drawn; what the grades are of the team members; what positions they hold; what training has been provided to each member of the team in the areas of (a) intelligence analysis, (b) informant handling and (c) the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [113694]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All four investigators are senior manager D grades, and they have been drawn from Feltham, Wormwood Scrubs, Wandsworth and Holloway. Three of the investigators are deputy governors and one is head of safety.

It is for the commissioning officer to satisfy himself that investigators have the relevant experience and training, and both the governor and area manager are satisfied that this is the case in this investigation.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff searches were undertaken at HM Prison Pentonville in each of the last 12 months; how many unauthorised articles were found on staff in each case; what action was taken
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against staff found in possession of unauthorised articles in each case; and if he will make a statement. [113695]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is set out in the following table.

Number of searches undertaken at Pentonville prison
Month 2006 Number of searches Staff searched

January

2

419

February

3

417

March

2

317

April

3

455

May

2

324

June

1

193

July

2

155

August

1

79

September

1

195

October

1

174

November

1

287

December

1

113

Note:
Authorised articles are those identified Governor’s Order on Authorised Articles. Staff found in possession of unauthorised articles would, for minor cases, be interviewed by a member of the security department and/or written to. No unauthorised articles discovered required police involvement.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether those conducting the investigation into alleged staff wrongdoing at HM Prison Pentonville have requested the involvement of the Metropolitan police; and if he will make a statement. [114061]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Those conducting the investigations have had limited involvement with the Metropolitan police. It would not be appropriate to provide detail on the precise nature of the involvement.

Probation Officers

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vacant positions for probation officers there are in (a) Stockport and (b) England. [114295]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Not all Probation Areas in the National Probation Service operate a set establishment against which vacant posts can be measured. As a more representative alternative, Probation Areas are required to report regularly on the number of active vacancies they have. An active vacancy is one which a Probation Area is actively trying to fill through a recruitment process.

Staffing information is collected by Probation Area, and is not collected centrally in sufficient detail to allow figures for sub sections within Probation Areas to be presented separately.

Figures for 31 March 2006 show that there were a total of 8,262.50 full time equivalent Probation Officers in post in England and Wales. On the same date there were 227.70 full time equivalent vacancies that were actively being recruited to. Therefore active vacancies accounted for 2.68 per cent. of the total posts available at that time.


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Additionally, the National Probation Service employs 6,544.28 full time equivalent probation service officers, who also deliver front-line services to offenders. At this time, there were 347.30 full time equivalent vacancies, equating to 5.04 per cent. of the total posts available.

We are not able to provide a similar breakdown for the Greater Manchester Probation Area as they are currently unable to provide data on active vacancies(1).

Terrorism

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to collate information on the number of individuals convicted of terrorist crimes (a) since 2000 and (b) in the future. [107573]

Mr. McNulty: The provision of security advice and training, and to whom this is provided, is kept under regular review.

Yarl's Wood Detention Centre

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long (a) Antoinette Lynch (Home Office reference ZH/21065676), (b) Pathrine Roberts (Home Office reference CEU/1108591), (c) Scarlett Megwy (Home Office reference ZH/1166113) and (d) Natasha Ngirincuti (Home Office reference ASC/919985) have been detained at Yarl’s Wood; what the reasons are for maintaining their detention; when each had her last bail hearing; and if he will order their release on temporary admission with conditions. [112792]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 8 January 2007]: I wrote to the hon. Member on 8 January 2007.

Wales

Advertising

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department spent on advertising with The Guardian newspaper, including online, in the last year for which figures are available. [114087]

Mr. Hain: The total amount spent on advertising with The Guardian newspaper, including on line for the Wales Office, in 2006 was £3,565.34.

Energy Technologies Institute

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on the location of the Energy Technologies Institute; and if he will make a statement. [114047]


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