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16 May 2007 : Column 804W—continued
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding was given to the Drug Interventions Programme in each year since 2003; and what funding he expects to allocate to the programme in each of the next three years. [136178]
Mr. Coaker: Funding for the Drug Interventions Programme for financial years 2003-04 to 2007-08 is in the table. Funding for the programme for future years will not be determined until later this financial year.
| Drugs interventions programme funding: 2003-04 to 2007-08 | |
| £ | |
These figures exclude capital and central administration costs.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Drug Interventions Programme; and if he will make a statement. [136989]
Mr. Coaker: The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is a key part of the Government’s drug strategy. The programme’s central objectives are to get drug misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment.
The programme is meeting its objectives. On average over 3,500 drug misusing offenders are now entering drug treatment each month through the programme and the most recent published crime figures show that recorded acquisitive crime, to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution, has fallen by 20 per cent. since the onset of the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) (the 12 months to March 2003).
To supplement management data collected in respect of the programme and local evaluations, the Home Office is carrying out a research programme to assess the effectiveness of individual programme components. Findings to date are published on http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/onlinepubs1.html and further evaluations are expected to be published shortly.
Human Trafficking
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to co-ordinate policies on combating the trafficking of women. [135282]
Mr. Coaker: The UK published an Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking on the 23 March. The Action Plan has a dedicated chapter on protection and assistance to adult victims of trafficking and pulls together all the work that is currently under way across Government and sets out what else we plan to do.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives his Department is taking to combat people trafficking. [136221]
Mr. Coaker: The UK published an Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking on 23 March. The Action Plan sets out proposals for action in the four key areas of prevention, enforcement and prosecution, protection and assistance to adult victims and child trafficking. It pulls together all the work that is currently under way across Government and sets out what else we plan to do.
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what definitions of human trafficking are given in UK legislation. [136234]
Mr. Coaker: The UK ratified the United Nations Protocol to Prevent and Punish Trafficking in Persons on 9 February 2006 and uses the definition of trafficking set out in the Protocol. Legislation to comprehensively criminalise trafficking as defined in the Palermo Protocol was introduced by the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which came into force on 1 May 2004, introducing wide-ranging offences covering trafficking into, out of or within the UK for any form of sexual offence. An offence, of ‘trafficking for exploitation’, which includes, for example, trafficking for forced labour and the removal of organs, is included in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004.
K v. Parole Board
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice is being issued as a response to the case K v. Parole Board [EWHC 2413]. [136549]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Guidance regarding the procedures for compiling and disclosing parole dossiers for adult prisoners is contained in Prison Service Order 6000 Chapter five and is available to those responsible for the compilation of parole dossiers on behalf of young offenders.
The Youth Justice Board is working closely with the Parole Board in relation to children and young people who are subject to public protection sentences under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and is disseminating appropriate information to staff working within the secure estate. As a result of this case the guidance is being re-visited to ascertain whether revisions are needed in respect of juveniles and young offenders
Leyhill Prison
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he has made to the categories of prisoners eligible to be transferred to HMP Leyhill; and if he will make a statement. [135941]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Leyhill continues to take only category D prisoners.
Offensive Weapons: Convictions
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested for and (b) convicted of carrying knives in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [135583]
Mr. Coaker: Information on arrests for offences under section 139 (having an article with blade or point in public place) and 139A (having an article with blade or point on school premises) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (as amended by section 4(1) of the Offensive Weapons Act 1996) are not separately identifiable within the arrests collection held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform. The collection is based on persons arrested for recorded crime by main offence group only, for example violence against the person, robbery, burglary, or criminal damage.
Data from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform showing the number of persons found guilty of offences related to the illegal possession of knives in public, for the years 2003-05, are provided in the attached table.
Information for 2006 will be available in the autumn.
Prisoners Release: Greater London
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were released from prison on probation and subsequently returned to prison for breaking their conditions of probation in each London borough in each of the last five years, broken down by category of offence. [133513]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Figures on the numbers of prisoners recalled to prison since 2001 for breaching their licence conditions can be found in the following tables. Details of the original offence and the number of cases specifically within London boroughs are not held centrally and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
| Recalls of determinate sentences( 1)( ) t aken from Table 10.8 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 , England and Wales | |||||
| Number of recalls/percentage | |||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) Excluding Home Detention Curfew recalls (2) From 2005 ACR and OCR no longer collated separately (3) Data supplied by Public Protection and Licensed Release Unit of the Home Office | |||||
| Home Detention Curfew recalls( 1,2) t aken from Table 10.7 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005 , England and Wales | |
| Number of recalls | |
Prisoners: Repatriation
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress his Department has made in discussions with other countries on the repatriation of their nationals from British prisons. [127880]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Government have been negotiating a prisoner transfer agreement providing for the transfer of prisoners between member states of the European Union. This agreement provides for the transfer of EU nationals to their State of nationality in which they normally live without the consent of the individual concerned. It also creates, for the first time, an obligation on a member state to accept back its nationals. In February the Government participated in a general approach on this agreement. Subject to its formal adoption later this year we expect the agreement to come into force in 2009.
The Government intends to bring forward further amendments to the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984, to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The Additional Protocol provides for the transfer of a prisoner, without the consent of the individual concerned, where that prisoner would otherwise be deported at the end of the sentence. The Consent of the receiving State will still be required.
Further, the Home Office is working to identify those countries with which we already have bilateral arrangements who may be willing to renegotiate these arrangements to remove the requirement for prisoners to consent to transfer. The consent of the receiving State would, however, still be required.
Public Service: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) shop workers, (b) hospital staff, (c) bus drivers, (d) firemen, (e) police officers and (f) other public sector workers were victims of violence at work in the last year for which figures are available. [136419]
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