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Family Conciliation Services: Hampshire

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what research she has (a) initiated and (b) evaluated on the effectiveness of funding provided for Hampshire Family Mediation as a result of the restructuring of legal aid; and if she will make a statement. [140666]

Vera Baird: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has researched the impact upon mediation services of its proposals for a revised mediation remuneration structure,
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which aligns the for profit (FP) and not for profit (NfP) sectors onto the same fee scheme. The partial regulatory impact assessment concluded that 70 per cent. of the 200 mediation service providers will gain financially under the proposals. In common with other mediation providers, Hampshire Family Mediation (HFM) will no longer receive the fixed annual payment in addition to fees for work done, provided for the last three years, under the transitional NfP contracting arrangements. Under the new arrangements, HFM will be paid through new increased fixed fees, which will apply equally to both FP and NfP providers.

The LSC’s proposals to revise the family fee structure will remove the financial disincentives for solicitors to make referrals to mediation, which has historically been alleged by the mediation profession to be an obstacle to increasing mediation referrals. The new family fee schemes for solicitors should encourage more and earlier referrals to mediation providers.

Home Detention Curfews

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many and what percentage of prisoners released under the home detention curfew scheme were subsequently recalled in each year since the scheme's introduction. [140777]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer of 4 June 2007, Official Report, columns 219-20W, on how many and what percentage of prisoners released under the home detention curfew scheme breached the rules of their curfew and were recalled to prison in each year since 1999.

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many and what percentage of prisoners were released (a) one month, (b) two months, (c) three months, (d) four months, (e) five months and (f) six months or more before their automatic release date as part of the Home Detention Curfew scheme in each year since the scheme’s introduction. [140778]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on the numbers of prisoners by their respective times spent on the scheme from all prison establishments in England and Wales in each year since 1999 can be found in the following table. The maximum period under which a prisoner may be released early under the Home Detention Curfew scheme is 135 days. Prisoners are not released for longer than that period. Therefore no prisoner has been released on HDC five or six months before the end of their sentence.

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.

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HDC releases by time on tag under Home Detention Curfew, 1999-2006( 1)
	Total( 2)	Less than or equal to 1 month	Greater than 1 month to less than or equal to 2 months	Greater than 2 months to less than or equal to 3 months	Greater than 3 months to less than or equal to 4 months	Greater than 4 months to less than or equal to 4.5 months
Number
1999	14,800	3,800	10,700	—	—	—
2000	15,500	4,000	11,200	—	—	—
2001	13,700	3,300	9,900	—	—	—
2002	20,500	5,600	12,800	900	—	—
2003	21,200	5,600	4,200	6,400	1,300	1,900
2004	19,300	5,300	3,900	2,800	1,400	4,300
2005	17,300	4,300	3,300	2,700	1,500	4,000
2006	13,700	3,000	2,500	2,200	1,400	3,300
Percentage
1999	—	26	72	—	—	—
2000	—	26	72	—	—	—
2001	—	24	72	—	—	—
2002	—	27	62	4	—	—
2003	—	26	20	30	6	9
2004	—	27	20	15	7	22
2005	—	25	19	16	9	23
2006	—	22	18	16	10	24
(1) 2006 figures are provisional and subject to change. These statistics are based on information recorded on the central prison IT system on 4 June 2007. Further updates and amendments may be made to records on this system resulting in revised figures. These figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. (2) The total includes those cases where changes to a prisoner’s status, such as a recall or a new sentence, have disrupted the flow of data within the information system. For these cases it is not possible to attribute a definitive time on tag.

Legal Aid: Greater London

Ms Abbott: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many legal aid cases were funded in Greater London under (a) the criminal and (b) the civil legal aid scheme in the latest 12 month period for which figures are available, broken down by (i) type of case and (ii) borough. [138981]

Vera Baird: I have placed the information requested in the House of Commons Library.

Magistrates Courts: Closures

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many magistrates courts in (a) Kent and (b) England and Wales closed in the last 10 years for which records are available. [140807]

Ms Harman: There have been four magistrates courts closures in Kent and 113 magistrates courts closures in England and Wales, in the last 10 years for which records are available.

Deborah Mattinson: Opinion Leader Research

Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what work has been carried out for her Department or its predecessor since 2004 by (a) Deborah Mattinson and (b) Opinion Leader Research. [140728]

Bridget Prentice: No payments have been made directly to Deborah Mattinson. OCJR and NOMS (now part of the Ministry of Justice—MoJ) have not made any payments to OLR since becoming MoJ on 9 May. There have been four items contracted from Opinion Leader Research since 2004. Details of these, along with payments made to date, are as follows:

Specific OLR involvement	2004	2005	2006	2007
Judicial diversity research report: findings of a consultation with barristers, solicitors and judge. Research contract—Interviews with women and BME solicitors and barristers to determine barriers to applying for judicial posts (published)	—	42,917	33,399	—
Draft Coroners Bill. To act as facilitators at a one-day event seeking feedback on draft Coroners Bill.	—	—	15,490	—
The impact of changing court fees on users. Research contract—Examines users' knowledge of court processes and cost, the key factors in their decision to proceed to court (not yet published)	—	—	56,964	—
Meeting Military families. To act as facilitators to a meeting with families of bereaved servicemen and women who had lost their lives in Iraq, and had been involved in the inquest process	—	—	—	4,700
Totals (inc. VAT)	—	42,917	105,853	4,700

Ministry of Justice Innovation Fund

Mr. David Jones: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the value is of (a) phase one and (b) phase two of the Ministry of Justice Innovation Fund. [140718]

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Bridget Prentice: The total amount spent on the first round of the Innovation Fund was £102,000 (including VAT). Eight projects received funding in the 2006-07 financial year.

The total available funding budget for the second phase of the Innovation Fund is £140,000 (including VAT) to be spread over a 15-month period. Bids between £5,000 and £15,000 are being sought.

Prisons: Kent

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what the (a) certified normal capacity for prisons in Kent and (b) prison population in Kent is. [140808]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I believe the hon. member is referring to the certified normal accommodation (CNA), which is the uncrowded capacity.

The CNA for each prison in Kent, excluding Dover, which holds immigration detainees, and the population for each prison, as at 4 June 2007, is set out in the following table. The total population figure includes temporary approved absences.

Prison	CNA	Total population
Blantyre House	122	121
Canterbury	196	277
Cookham Wood	137	182
East Sutton Park	98	98
Elmley	753	986
Maidstone	559	584
Rochester	392	390
Standford Hill	464	432
Swaleside	756	779
Total	3,477	3,849

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