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2 May 2007 : Column 1680W—continued
Naturalisation Test
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of people were successful in the Life in the UK naturalisation test in each month since November 2005. [130020]
John Reid: The number and percentage of candidates who have been successful in the Life in the UK test in each month since November 2005 is set out in the table.
Success in the test does not guarantee that an applicant will be granted citizenship (or, from 2 April 2007, settlement) as other factors will be taken into account in making a decision.
| Passes | Pass rate (percentage) | |
Offenders: Employment
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of the (a) number and (b) proportion of (i) men and (ii) women leaving prison who had a job to go to; and what the equivalent figures were (A) 10 and (B) 20 years ago. [134012]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is not currently available in the specific format requested. HM Prison Service collects the total number of prisoners who have education, training or employment (ETE) secured upon release. This data are supplied in the following table for the last two financial years, broken down by gender, along with the prison system target for this measure. ETE information was not collected in the current format before April 2002.
| Total ETE outcomes for 2005 - 06 and 2006 - 07 | ||||
| Total ETE outcomes | System ETE target | |||
| Female | Male | Total | ||
| (1)( )Data for 2006-07 are provisional | ||||
Outcomes include those who attended Freshstart appointments at Jobcentre Plus, whereby prisoners who do not have a job or training place to go to on release are linked into employment, training and benefits advice and support immediately after release.
Freshstart interview attendance data for February and March 2007 have not yet been received.
HM Prison Service is implementing new systems to ensure the specific information requested is available for the 2007-08 financial year.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of (a) the re-offending rates of those who find a job on leaving prison and (b) those who do not. [134013]
Mr. Sutcliffe: No assessment has been made to date of the re-offending rates of those who find a job on leaving prison or of those who do not have a job on release. However, work is currently underway to analyse the findings of three resettlement surveys of prisoners conducted at the point of release and this will provide such an assessment. Findings from this work should be available by the autumn of 2007 and published on the RDS NOMS website.
Prison Service: Corruption
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the value of fraudulent expense claims made by HM Prison Service staff in each of the last 24 months for which figures are available; what disciplinary action was taken against individuals involved; and if he will make a statement. [134706]
Mr. Sutcliffe: During the 24 months to 31 March 2007, there were seven cases of fraudulent expense claims formally investigated, detailed in the table
During the 24 months to 31 March 2007, there were 7 cases of fraudulent expense claims formally investigated, detailed in the table below.
| Month | Number of cases | Amount Investigated (£) | Disciplinary outcome |
Prison Service: Standards
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2007, Official Report, column 1520W, on prison service: standards, how many (a) area professional standards managers, (b) local professional standards managers and (c) their deputies are in post; what proportion of them were fully trained by February; and if he will make a statement. [134760]
Mr. Sutcliffe: 13 area professional standards managers and 128 local professional standards managers were in post in February 2007. It is not mandatory to appoint a deputy local professional standards manager, although many establishments have a deputy in post. By February 2007 all 13 area professional standards managers had received training along with 216 prison staff.
Mr. Bellingham:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 1 March
2007, Official Report, column 1520W, on prison service: standards, in what circumstances an HM Prison Service commissioning officer may withhold (a) the investigation report and (b) parts of the investigation report from an individual being charged under the disciplinary code; and if he will make a statement. [134809]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The commissioning authority may withhold all or part of a report if disclosure to an individual facing allegations under the code of discipline is considered to threaten the safety of staff or prisoners, or the good order of an establishment. The specific circumstances under which a report, or part of a report, may be withheld are listed in PSO 1300 Investigations paragraph 3D 8.1.
Prisoners: Medical Treatments
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his most recent estimate is of the average waiting time between assessment of a prisoner and subsequent transfer to a hospital for physical or mental care. [133978]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Prisoners who are assessed as requiring treatment in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 should be so transferred within 12 weeks of the responsible national health service organisation receiving the referral. A reduced waiting time standard of two weeks is currently being piloted.
For hospital appointments, Prison Service Order 3050, continuity of care for prisoners, sets out what prison governors must do to ensure prisoners receive timely clinical interventions and treatment. A copy has been placed in the Library. It is also available on the HM Prison Service website at:
Prisons: Greater London
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been received by the new London area manager of HM Prison Service from staff about (a) corruption, (b) misconduct and (c) management failure; and if he will make a statement. [134722]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The area manager for London has received three complaints from staff about alleged managerial failures since taking up post.
Prisons: Misconduct
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the conclusions of the inquiry into misconduct of senior officers in the segregation unit at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs were considered during the process of appointing the new governor at HM Prison Whitemoor; and if he will make a statement. [135105]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The conclusions of the inquiry into the misconduct of senior officers in the segregation unit at
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs were not considered during the process of appointing the Governor of HM Prison Whitemoor.
Prisons: Security
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources he has made available to each (a) prison establishment and (b) the Professional Standards Unit to reduce the level of trafficking of contraband in the financial year 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [134709]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There are 13 Area Professional Standards Managers, 128 Local Professional Standards Managers, a central Professional Standards Unit of 13 staff. In addition, there are ongoing developments to the types of equipment and training available to staff to detect contraband or improve the use of intelligence.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the (a) competency and experience of staff and (b) adequacy of resources of security departments within prison establishments in the (i) prevention and (ii) detection of contraband; and if he will make a statement. [134841]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is the responsibility of HM Prison Service (for public sector prisons) and individual providers (for contracted sector prisons) to ensure that security departments are appropriately staffed and operate effectively. It is the responsibility of the National Offender Management Service to monitor the performance of providers (both contracted and public sector) and to ensure that this is acceptable across all areas of work involving security.
Prisons: Surveillance
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (a) requests and (b) authorisations was in each prison establishment in England and Wales per week for targeted surveillance of (i) social visits and (ii) other activity in each of the last two years; and if he will make a statement. [134756]
Mr. Sutcliffe: For operational security reasons, it would be inappropriate to provide the information requested.
Rape: Convictions
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the conviction rate was for rape cases in 2006; [132240]
(2) how many rape prosecutions where DNA or other forensic evidence was used led to (a) a conviction and (b) an acquittal in each of the last three years. [132241]
John Reid: Court proceedings (including rape convictions) for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
Information on whether DNA evidence was used to bring about a conviction to court is not available as the individual circumstance of a case are not held centrally.
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