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28 Mar 2007 : Column 1645Wcontinued
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the current average weekly rate of pay is for prisoners. [129973]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Prison Service Order 4460, a copy of which has been placed in the Library, devolves responsibility to Governors and Directors of contracted prisons to set rates of pay for their establishment. Central records of individual pay are not kept but, based on total spend, the average rate is approximately £8.00 per week.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 138W, on prisons, what funding has been formally allocated for prison capital works in each of the next five years; what proportion of the 10,000 proposed new prison places this will deliver; and when he expects the formal allocation of the remainder of the £1.7 billion figure to be finalised. [127886]
John Reid: The funding for capital expenditure for the next five years has not yet been formally allocated. It is expected that funding for 2007-08 will be allocated shortly. This will make provision for the capital cost of the programme in that year. Indicative funding for the following three years, 2008-09 to 2010-11, will be allocated during 2007. 2011-12 falls beyond the period of the comprehensive spending review.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2006, Official Report, column 1691W, on prisons, how many of the 18 claims have been settled (a) out of court and (b) in court; what the settlement was in each case; how many of the claims are ongoing; and whether any further claims have been lodged. [127887]
John Reid: The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 19 February 2007 and provided the latest information held by the Department on the issue of compensation paid out to foreign national prisoners.
A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made on the implementation of the Prison Service policy on alcohol misuse and hazardous drinking. [129972]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The alcohol strategy for prisoners was introduced in 2004. The focus is on improving
consistency and building on good practice for the delivery of treatment within existing resources. As resources allow, prisons will look to expand services.
A range of interventions is available in prisons to support those with an alcohol problem:
clinical managementincluding detoxificationis available in all local and remand prisons;
where alcohol is part of a wider substance misuse problem, the full range of drug interventions is available;
Alcoholics Anonymous run groups in around 50 per cent. of prisons;
an information pack and awareness video is available for all prisoners;
some offending behaviour programmes address offenders' underlying criminogenic factors which occur in alcohol related crime; and
the substance misuse service for all 16-18 year-old prisoners includes a particular focus on alcohol.
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued on the use of Sony Playstations in prisons in the last five years. [126542]
John Reid: Advice was issued to all prisons in December 2005 that the Sony Playstation 3 was barred from the prison estate because of the equipments ability to send and receive radio signals.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for which drugs prisoners are tested during mandatory drug tests. [129915]
Mr. Sutcliffe: All samples collected under the mandatory drug testing programme are tested for the following standard panel of drugs: amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, methadone, and opiates. In addition, prisons can request that individual prisoners' samples be tested for LSD and tests for buprenorphine are conducted at a number of prisons where intelligence indicates it is a problem.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average daily cost for food is per person in prisons directly run by the Prison Service. [129938]
Mr. Sutcliffe: For 2005-06, the last full financial year for which figures are available, the average public sector Prison Service daily food cost per prisoner was £1.93.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many mental health in-reach teams operate within the Prison Service; [129927]
(2) how many prisons have dedicated mental health teams. [129928]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Responsibility for prison healthcare services now rests with the Department of Health.
There are currently 102 mental health in-reach teams working within prisons. Every prison establishment in England and Wales has access to these services.
Mental health services have been a key part of the Government's recent reforms of prison health services and the Department of Health is now investing £20 million a year in NHS mental health in-reach services for prisoners.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) mobile telephones and (b) SIM cards were confiscated from prisoners by prison staff in each of the last five years. [129917]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained at disproportionate cost only.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners shared a cell intended for one prisoner in each of the last three years. [129944]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table shows the average monthly number of prisoners doubled up in cells designed for one and the proportion of the prisoner population this represents. There are no instances of more than two prisoners sharing a cell designed for one. The practice of three prisoners sharing a cell designed for one (trebling) ended in 1994.
Doubling information since 2003-04 | ||
Financial year | Average monthly doubling( 1) | Proportion of prisoners doubled (percentage) |
(1) Figures subject to rounding. (2) Figures for 2006-07 currently provisional. |
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests, (b) charges and (c) successful prosecutions for incitement to racial hatred were made in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [125576]
Mr. McNulty: Information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
The following table shows data extracted from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform in respect of the number of persons proceeded against and found guilty of incitement to racial hatred offences for 2004 and 2005. Prior to 2004, data for these offences were collected as part of a miscellaneous group of offences which cannot be separately identified on the database.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the roles and responsibilities are of each person employed by the Department's Respect taskforce. [127350]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 13 March 2007]: The Respect taskforce is a unit that works across Government, based at the Home Office. The taskforce includes a mix of substantive civil servants from the Home Office and other Government Departments, staff with specialist backgrounds in research and communications and practitioners from local government and the voluntary sector who are experienced in front line work to tackle antisocial behaviour, deal with problematic families and establish youth and sport activities.
In addition to the Government's Co-ordinator for Respect, the Respect taskforce consists of a director with three main teams focusing on implementation, policy and communications. These teams are responsible for programme management of Respect action plan commitments across Government, working with local agencies and communities to ensure that the Respect programme is making effective progress on the ground, formulation and development of policy and communication through a range of media, campaigns and events. The Respect taskforce also has a small research function to evaluate action taken.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the use of the Seafarers Identity Documents Convention of the International Labour Organisation in the United Kingdom, with particular reference to the development of an identity card scheme. [115692]
Joan Ryan:
The United Kingdom is a party to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Seafarers Identity Documents Convention of 1958 (ILO 108). Seafarer Identity Documents (SIDs) issued under this Convention have been issued to British seafarers for many years. ILO SIDs held by nationals of other party
states are accepted by the United Kingdom Immigration Service for shore leave and transit purposes.
SIDs issued under this convention are issued solely for the purpose of facilitating shore leave and transit of seafarers in connection with seafaring activities and, as such, serve a different purpose to national identity cards. The ID cards scheme is intended for those legally resident or working in the UK for a specified period (likely to be three months) or longer.
The United Kingdom is currently evaluating, with other relevant stakeholders, the practicalities of ILO Convention 185.
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people (a) received an official police warning, (b) received an official police caution and (c) were arrested under section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 in each month since August 2005. [128743]
Mr. McNulty: Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 came into force on 1 August 2005.
Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform show that there were no cautions, final warnings, or reprimands, issued by the police for offences under section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, in England and Wales, in 2005.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn. However, at present I understand from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner that no cautions or final warnings or reprimands have been issued for offences under section 132 in 2006.
The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally by the Home Office. However I understand from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner that since section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 came into force until the end of December 2006, there have been 91 arrests of individuals for a range of offences connected to demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament. The commissioner is unable to break down the arrests month by month without incurring additional costs.
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