| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
20 Jun 2007 : Column 1830W—continued
Sustainable Cities
17. Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with his counterparts in China on co-operation on the sustainable development of cities. [143849]
The Deputy Prime Minister: In April 2007 I met with State Councillor Tang and Premier Wen in Beijing. I put to the Chinese leadership a proposal on strengthening co-operation between the UK and China in the field of sustainability, particularly sustainable cities.
In addition, I recently highlighted the potential for sustainable city cooperation between the UK and China to Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, Construction Minister Qiu Baoxing, and Jiangsu Party Secretary Li Yuanchao during their respective visits to the UK.
Sustainable development has been an important focus of the China taskforce which I have chaired since 2003 at the request of the Prime Minister. The Chinese are keen to step up exchanges with the UK to help them develop sustainable communities and see both the Thames Gateway, and the UK designed Eco-City at Dongtan as key examples.
New Town Regeneration
18. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on progress on the regeneration of new towns, with particular reference to Skelmersdale. [143850]
The Deputy Prime Minister: Since 1997, the Government have made regeneration and renewal a priority, investing more than £20 billion in our towns and cities. There has been considerable progress in Skelmersdale including a major redevelopment of the town centre and the area is also benefiting from £3.7 million in safer stronger communities funding.
Schools Policy
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on schools policy. [143844]
The Deputy Prime Minister: The Cabinet Committee on Schools Policy has the remit to discuss and develop policies to improve schools and to monitor progress.
Since 1997 this Government have worked tirelessly to drive up standards in schools, giving parents more choice and young people a better start in life.
Thanks to our programme of sustained investment coupled with reform, we have seen unprecedented improvements:
Over 35,000 extra teachers
Over 172,000 extra support staff
Smaller classes
Best ever exam results
Doubling spending per pupil
And in 15 years time, every school in the country will be thoroughly modernised.
That's a record to be proud of—and I’m proud to have been a part of the Government that has delivered it.
Justice
Prison Service
Mr. Bellingham:
To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 June 2007, Official Report, column 384W, on the Prison Service, on what date Nick Pascoe took over responsibility for the commissioning of Ron Tasker’s
investigation from Keith Munns; and if she will make a statement. [143552]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not possible to state the precise date on which the current Area Manager for London took over as commissioning officer. He took over following a conversation with the Deputy Director General. This conversation took place after 1 February 2007.
Administration of Justice: Crown Dependencies
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how much has been allocated by the Ministry of Justice for the judicial systems in Crown dependencies. [141791]
Ms Harman: No provision has been allocated for this purpose. The Crown dependencies (the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey) are self-governing dependencies of the Crown, and as such, they have their own directly elected legislative assemblies, administrative and fiscal systems and courts of law. It is for the Government of each Crown dependency to make such provision for its judicial system as it considers appropriate.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what plans she has to meet representatives of the government of (a) the Isle of Man, (b) Guernsey and (c) Jersey. [141803]
Ms Harman: There are no current plans, but Ministers meet representatives of the governments of the Crown Dependencies whenever it is appropriate to do so.
Coroners
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice if she will take steps to allow co-habiting partners to (a) identify bodies of their partner and (b) receive information relating to the inquest in a situation where a spouse is still alive; and if she will make a statement. [142078]
Ms Harman: In cases where the identification of a body is supervised by the coroner's office, Rule 20 of the Coroners Rules 1984 includes in the definition of a properly interested person the spouse or civil law partner of the deceased as well as anyone who in the coroner's opinion is a properly interested person. It is within the coroner's discretion whether a co-habiting partner should be treated as a properly interested person for the purpose of an inquest and hence may identify the body of his or her partner.
Councillors
Michael Gove: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what guidance (a) her Department and (b) the Information Commissioner has produced on the requirements on councillors to register under the Data Protection Act 1998 when acting in their capacity as a representative of the residents of their ward. [143660]
Vera Baird: My Department has not issued any guidance on this issue.
The Information Commissioner's Office published updated guidance on 17 May 2007 which included advice to elected and prospective members of local authorities on how registration under the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to them. The guidance can be found on the Commissioner's website at
Court Service: Maladministration
Mr. Bone: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what estimate she has made of the number of administrative errors made by the Court Service in the last 12 months. [143405]
Ms Harman: Data held by Her Majesty's Courts Service show that 10,480 justified complaints relating to the administrative actions of the county, Crown and magistrates courts were recorded within the period June 2006-May 2007. This represents 64 per cent. of the total number of complaints recorded during the same period.
Just under two million civil claims were heard in the county courts, and Crown Court centres disposed of over 127,000 hearings or trials in the financial year 2006-2007. In 2006 the magistrates courts dealt with approximately 2.3 million defendants in criminal cases and 1.2 million civil applications.
Crime: Mentally Ill People
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what support is offered to mentally ill people who commit crimes. [143448]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The range of support provided to mentally ill people who commit crimes is set out in the Offender Mental Health Care Pathway (Department of Health, 2005). This outlines best practice in stages from police custody and court appearances through to prison and pre-release arrangements with community mental health teams. Copies have been placed in the Library. It is also available on the Department of Health website at:
Under the Mental Health Act 1983 the courts have powers to assess mentally disordered offenders before sentencing and to divert them to receive specialist treatment in hospital rather than punishment. The police also have the power under the Act to remove a person who appears to be suffering from mental disorder to a place of safety. The Government plan to publish guidance this year to the NHS and partner agencies which supports the development of local diversion services by building on current best practice.
Beginning in 2003, and completing in April 2006, the national health service took over commissioning responsibility for all prison health services in public sector prisons. This was previously the responsibility of the Prison Service. One of the main reasons this
transfer was made was to help ensure that prisoners had better access to mainstream health services.
Investment in prison mental health in-reach services has been steadily increasing, with nearly £20 million invested in these services each year since 2004-05, and 360 whole time equivalent staff employed—more than the initial commitment in the NHS Plan to create 300 posts. There are now teams in 102 prisons and their services are available to the entire prison estate.
People who are mentally too ill to remain in prison should be transferred to hospital. We have introduced tighter monitoring to identify prisoners waiting an unacceptably long period for transfer to hospital. A protocol was issued to prisons and primary care trusts in October 2005 setting out what must be done when a prisoner has been waiting for a hospital place for more than three months following acceptance by the national health service.
These measures have helped bring about positive results. In 2006, 33 per cent. more prisoners, with mental illness too severe for prison, were transferred to hospital than in 2002—up to 961 from 723. There has been a significant decrease in the number of people waiting over 12 weeks for a transfer—in the quarter ending March 2007, 40 prisoners were waiting, down from 51 in the same quarter in 2005.
The ACCT (Assessment, Care in Custody and teamwork) care planning process for prisoners in danger of self-harm or suicide has helped contribute to a reduction in the number of suicides in England and Wales. In 2006, these were down 14 per cent. —down to 67 cases, from 95 in 2004. This is the lowest figure since 1996.
Crime: Schools
Mr. Watson: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (1) how many police officer hours were allocated to the safer schools scheme in each of the last three years; [143208]
(2) how many arrests there have been as a result of the introduction of the safer schools scheme. [143209]
Bridget Prentice: The collection of such data is done locally and is a matter for individual police forces.
Crown Dependencies
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what plans her Department has to improve communication between the Government and the Crown dependencies. [141804]
Ms Harman: The Ministry of Justice provides the official channel of communication between the United Kingdom Government and the Governments of the Crown dependencies. Communication arrangements are kept under continuous review and improvement is sought whenever possible.
Departments: Manpower
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many people are employed by her Department. [141792]
Ms Harman: The headcount figures for the former DCA and those parts of the Home Office which transferred to the Ministry of Justice have been taken from the latest civil service employment statistics published by the Office for National Statistics on 13 June 2007 for the quarter ending 31 March 2007.
| Number | |
The number of staff transferring from Home Office Corporate Services following the creation of the Ministry of Justice is still being discussed.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how many officials work in (a) her Department and (b) the Privy Council Office. [143172]
Ms Harman: The headcount figures for the former DCA and those parts of the Home Office which transferred to the Ministry of Justice have been taken from the latest civil service employment statistics published by the Office for National Statistics on 13 June 2007 for the quarter ending 31 March 2007.
| Number | |
The number of staff transferring from Home Office Corporate Services following the creation of the Ministry of Justice is still being discussed.
The present headcount figure for those parts of the Privy Council Office transferred to the Ministry of Justice is 21.
Departments: Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice how much was received by the Department from the letting of its properties in each of the last five years. [139331]
Ms Harman: During the last five years my Department has received the following amounts from the letting of its properties:
| £ | |
The Home Office is reporting with regard to MOJ properties transferring from the Home Office as part of Machinery of Government changes.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice what properties her Department and its predecessor (a) owned and (b) rented in each of the last five years. [139351]
Ms Harman: During the last five years my Department’s property portfolio comprised of no Freehold or Long Leasehold properties. The following are occupation Leasehold Properties:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |