Previous Section Index Home Page

1 Mar 2007 : Column 1511W—continued

Prisons: Standards

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what role is played by HM Prison Service Professional Standards Unit investigation support section in investigations into professional standards issues within prison establishments; and if he will make a statement. [123478]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The main functions include: providing advice and training; maintaining a database of formal investigations; providing analytical reports; and identifying areas of good practice.

Probation

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Probation Risk Screening Tool utilised by the probation service in the courts will be available to assist with the preparation of Fast Delivery Reports. [122552]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The risk of serious harm screening tool is already used in courts across England and Wales to inform the preparation of fast delivery reports.

Probation Service: Disciplinary Proceedings

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Probation Service staff under investigation for serious further offences have a right to union representation. [124468]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Probation staff under investigation in serious further offence cases are entitled to seek Trade Union representation, but they would not be entitled to exercise it by having a representative present at Serious Further Offence interviews. The decision as to whether or not to represent the individual in any follow up investigation concerning capability or disciplinary action as a result of evidence highlighted at the Serious Further Offences interviews, ultimately rests with the Trade Union concerned.

Probation: Contracts

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether probation boards have a legal duty (a) to contract out probation work to other bodies and (b) to cooperate with (i) prisons, (ii) police,
1 Mar 2007 : Column 1512W
(iii) voluntary sector organisations and (iv) other agencies to reduce reoffending. [122452]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 22 February 2007]: Under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, Probation Boards may contract out probation work but do not have a legal duty to do so. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 sets out the legal obligations on local Boards to co-operate with the police, prisons and other bodies to manage the risk posed by certain offenders. This is in addition to the general aim of Boards to reduce re-offending under Section two of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000.

Probation: Finance

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what additional funding and resources have been provided to the Probation Service following the increase of non-custodial sentences being imposed by the courts due to prison overcrowding; [123613]

(2) what additional (a) funding and (b) other resources have been provided to the Probation Service following the recent increase of non-custodial sentences imposed by the courts. [121775]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government believe that dangerous, violent and seriously persistent offenders should go to prison, and for a long time if necessary, but most offenders can better and more effectively be punished in the community.

The National Probation Service (NPS) has received a real terms increase of 39 per cent. in Resource funding since 2001-02 to meet the cost of increased workload and intensity of supervision. The funding for 2007-08 is not yet finalised, but at present it is planned for the NPS to receive an increase of 3.7 per cent. in 2007-08.

Probation: Standards

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to merge NOMS Probation Standards with the Probation National Standards. [122474]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The probation service’s National Standards are being merged with the NOMS Offender Management Standards.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the consistency between the National Standards for Probation issued by the National Offender Management Service and the Probation National Standards; and if he will make a statement. [122550]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 22 February 2007]: The probation service currently operates under a set of National Standards introduced in 2005. Another set of standards, the NOMS Offender Management Standards, was published last year but has not been implemented. There are some inconsistencies between the two sets of standards but work is underway to merge them into a single coherent document.


1 Mar 2007 : Column 1513W

Sadiq Mohammed

Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action is being taken by his Department to withdraw the passport of Sadiq Mohammed. [123743]

Joan Ryan: The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has revoked the passport of Sadiq Mohammed.

Sibtain Bokhari

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a case manager (a) advised on and (b) managed the asylum application of Mr. Sibtain Bokhari and his family. [119097]

Mr. Byrne: I wrote to my hon. Friend on 20 February 2007 with the information requested.

Wandsworth Prison: Pay

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who was responsible for
1 Mar 2007 : Column 1514W
authorising the bonus payments for staff made as a consequence of the performance test bid at HM Prison Wandsworth; and if he will make a statement. [123467]

Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not Prison Service policy to comment on any aspect of bonuses received by individual members of staff.

Work Permits

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were issued for citizens of (a) Africa, (b) Latin America, (c) South Asia and (d) East Asia in each year since 1997. [122038]

Mr. Byrne: Table 1 shows the number of work permit applications which were approved for overseas nationals, in the period 1997 to 2006, from (a) Africa, (b) Latin America, (c) South Asia and (d) South East Asia (not East Asia).

The listing shows which countries have been included under each region of the world.

Table 1: number of work permit approvals per year
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total

Africa

5,271

7,423

9,828

13,432

22,374

27,778

25,536

24,919

20,908

18,284

175,753

Latin America

1,228

1,436

1,553

2,173

2,512

3,064

3,275

3,775

4,014

4,915

27,945

South Asia

9,011

12,395

13,289

23,400

35,099

42,635

51,126

69,040

61,235

69,184

386,414

South East Asia

1,401

2,096

2,298

2,735

4,582

5,788

6,123

6,587

5,486

6,018

43,114

Note:
The figures include all individuals who were approved as part of a group application. The figures provided are not national statistics but are based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.

Definitions of regions for this PQ answer

South East Asia:

South Asia:

Latin America:

Africa:


1 Mar 2007 : Column 1515W

Next Section Index Home Page