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5 Jun 2007 : Column 380W—continued
Electronic Tagging: Suffolk
Mr. Spring: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many offenders were electronically tagged in Suffolk in each of the last five years. [138410]
Mr. Sutcliffe: According to data submitted by the electronic monitoring supplier Serco, the number of people subject to electronic monitoring in the criminal justice area of Suffolk during the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07 is provided in the table.
The same data for previous periods are not available centrally and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
| Total electronically-monitored subjects in Suffolk criminal justice area | |
| Financial year | Number |
Feltham Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre
Mr. Bellingham:
To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) on how many occasions HM Prison Service has been required to commission an
investigation of the conduct of Governor Andrew Cross of HM Young Offender Institution Feltham; and if she will make a statement; [139568]
(2) whether the investigation allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the Governor of HM Youth Offender Institute Feltham have concluded; if she will place in the Library a copy of the report of the investigation; and if she will make a statement. [140056]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not Prison Service policy to comment on personnel issues relating to individual members of staff. However, exceptionally, the Governor of Feltham has requested that it be made clear that he has never been the subject of a disciplinary investigation. There has been a completed simple inquiry into a grievance made against him.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) how many (a) violent racist and (b) violent incidents took place at HM Young Offender Institution Feltham in each year since 2000; and if she will make a statement; [139569]
(2) how many racist incidents were recorded at HM Young Offender Institution Feltham in each year since 2000; and if she will make a statement. [139570]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Since the murder of Zahid Mubarek in March 2000 there have been no violent racist incidents at Feltham Young Offender Institution. The number of racist incidents recorded at Feltham since 2000 are as follows:
| Number | |
The rise in reported racist incidents since 2000 is due not to increased racist activity but to a more robust reporting system.
Violent incidents are not recorded separately. However, the number of proven adjudications for fights and assaults are as follows:
| Fights | Assaults | |
Mr. Bellingham:
To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) for what reason film footage of HM Young Offender Institute Feltham was not checked prior to broadcast to identify potential
security risks; who approved the film footage for broadcast; what disciplinary action has been taken; and if she will make a statement; [140059]
(2) what the total cost was of (a) the re-lock exercise at HM Young Offender Institute Feltham and (b) the consequent legal proceedings; and if she will make a statement. [140060]
Mr. Sutcliffe: This matter is the subject of ongoing legal action and it would therefore not be appropriate to comment.
Fixed Penalties: Foreigners
James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many (a) penalty notices for disorder and (b) fixed penalty notices were given to non-British nationals in each of the last three years, broken down by (i) nationality and (ii) offence. [139012]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on the nationality or immigration status of offenders issued with penalty notices for disorder and motorists who breach road traffic regulations and are issued with fixed penalty notices is not collected centrally.
Information relating to fixed penalty notices for environmental offences is a matter for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what legislation protects the privacy of correspondence between hon. Members and their constituents; and what complaints her Department has received on failures of existing legislation to ensure appropriate privacy. [139256]
Bridget Prentice: The Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 contain provisions to protect where appropriate the privacy of correspondence between hon. Members and their constituents. The Human Rights Act 1998 contains provisions to give further effect to the convention rights, which include the right to respect for private life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
My Department has received no specific complaints about correspondence between hon. Members and their constituents being inappropriately released.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what (a) budgets and (b) estimates for administrative costs in future financial years have been set for (i) commissioners, (ii) chief executive officers, (iii) directors and their officers and (iv) regional offender managers. [140437]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The allocation of the overall NOMS budget has not yet been set for future years.
Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission: Expenditure
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what proportion of the budget of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission was spent on the operations of the Commission, as opposed to in payments to lawyers not employed by the Commission, in each year since its establishment. [140235]
Mr. Hanson: The funds provided to the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission for its own administration costs and for the benefit of assisted persons, including lawyers were as follows:
| Financial year | Legal Aid fund (£000) | Administration (£000) | Administration as percentage of fund |
As the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission was established in November 2003, the figures quoted above for 2003-04 represent the five-month period November 2003 to March 2004.
Pentonville Prison: Standards
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice if she will place in the Library a copy of the report of investigations of professional standards at HM Prison Pentonville resulting in disciplinary action against staff found to have acted in a corrupt manner; and if she will make a statement. [139566]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not public-sector Prison Service policy to disclose copies of investigation reports to anyone other than the member of staff being charged with misconduct and/or their representative.
Personation
Mr. Evans: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many people have been prosecuted for identity fraud in the last five years; and how many have been convicted. [140488]
Mr. Sutcliffe: For the period in question for which recorded crime figures are available, most cases dealt with by the police, where a person's identity had been used unlawfully to obtain money, credit, services or property, would most likely have been dealt with as deception offences under the Theft Act 1968 (HO recorded crime classification 53B) or the Theft Act 1978. However, it is not possible to tell which of these deception offences relate to identity fraud and therefore no data can be provided.
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what forecasts her Department has made of the (a) number of cells available and (b) population at each (i) prison establishment, (ii) HM Prison Service area and (iii) private-sector prison, broken down by HM Prison Service area in June 2007; and if she will make a statement. [139572]
Mr. Sutcliffe: NOMS regularly reviews the capacity of the prison estate, taking into account accommodation coming in and out of use following refurbishment and the provision of new capacity. The operational capacity of the prison estate on 25 May was 81,458. This includes up to 400 places available as part of Operation Safeguard.
Latest published prison population projections for the end of June each year are presented in ‘Prison population projections 2006-2013, England and Wales, HOSB 11/06’, published in July 2006 as National Statistics. They break down the population by gender and identify projected remanded and sentenced prisoner numbers. They project the demand at national level only and do not focus on individual establishments or Prison Service areas. The projections are published in a regular cycle with the next publication provisionally planned for August 2007.
Prison Accommodation: Shipping
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what recent (a) discussions Ministers and officials from her Department have had and (b) representations her Department has received on the use of prison ships to reduce overcrowding in prisons. [138187]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The use of vessels is being considered as part of a package of measures to provide additional custodial capacity. A notice was placed by the Home Office to jointly serve NOMS and the Border and Immigration Agency for proposals to supply vessels of between 200-800 custodial or detention places. This was placed in the Official Journal of the European Union on 20 October 2006.
Tenders have now been received, but no decision to purchase has yet been made.
Representations have been received from the public on general matters and from private companies offering the provision of vessels.
Prison Service
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many former employees of HM Prison Service are serving prison sentences; and if she will make a statement. [140054]
Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not held for former employees of HM Prison Service.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) whether Nick Pascoe is acting as the commissioning authority for the Tasker investigation; and if she will make a statement; [140061]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 8 May 2007, Official Report, column 84W, on the Prison Service, who the commissioning officer is in respect of the Tasker investigation; and if she will make a statement. [140169]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The original commissioning authority was the recently retired area manager for London. His successor, Nick Pascoe, has taken over this responsibility.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what representations she has received from (a) Michael Spurr and (b) HM Prison Service on the Tasker investigation; if she will place in the Library a copy of those representations; and if she will make a statement. [140064]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have received updated briefing on the background to and the timetable for the Tasker investigation. It is not Prison Service policy to disclose the contents of investigations, and a copy of the Tasker report will not be placed in the Library.
Prison Service: Harassment
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many (a) governing governors and (b) deputy governors were the subject of sexual harassment allegations in each of the last five years; how many such governors in each category have been transferred to (i) another prison establishment or (ii) HM Prison Service headquarters over the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [140057]
Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not recorded centrally at present. To collect it would involve contacting each establishment individually and this would incur a disproportionate cost.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what representations she has received from the Equal Opportunities Commission concerning harassment within HM Prison Service; and if she will make a statement. [140058]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Prison Service has entered into a formal agreement with the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to tackle and prevent sexual harassment, which the EOC had raised with the Prison Service as being of concern to them. As a result, the EOC has decided to suspend a formal investigation into these issues. Instead, the EOC will work jointly with the Prison Service to identify and tackle sexual harassment.
As part of this agreement with the EOC, the Prison Service will undertake a series of initiatives including the launch of an independent survey to identify the nature and extent of sexual harassment and develop an action plan to remedy any problems it finds.
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