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These initiatives have been selected from 22 bids to provide a balanced programme across England and Wales to explore and develop the models of collaboration between forces that can deliver these vital services to protect the public more effectively and more efficiently.

Collaborative working is a key part of a national programme of work the Government are taking forward, in consultation with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Police Authorities
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to improve the way the police combat serious organised crime and other threats to public safety. All police forces will be expected to meet newly developed protective service standards. Forces will need to collaborate to do this and the demonstration sites initiative will help ensure that all forces can learn from the experiences of these sites and make use of their best practice.

The selected demonstrator sites will together be offered £3.7 million in Home Office funding to contribute to their start-up costs and they will take part in an evaluation process to be managed by the National Policing Improvement Agency which will monitor and measure their progress and delivery of benefits and develop a shared body of knowledge for the police service.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition

The Minister of State, Home Department (Mr. Tony McNulty): I would like to inform the House that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has signed a certificate to exempt Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) from certain provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 to facilitate the bulk transfer of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) data from TfL to the MPS. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police believes that it is necessary due to the enduring, vehicle-borne terrorist threat to London. The MPS requires bulk ANPR data from TfL’s camera network in London specifically for terrorism intelligence purposes and to prevent and investigate such offences. The infrastructure will allow the realtime flow of data between TfL and the MPS.

As one of the conditions of this certificate, the MPS will provide an annual report to the Information Commissioner so that he can satisfy himself that the personal data processed under the certificate are required for the purposes of safeguarding national security, and that any processing that is undertaken other than under an exemption set out in the certificate is carried out in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will review the operation of the certificate in three months’ time when the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police provides her with a separate, interim report so that she can be personally satisfied that the certificate is being operated in accordance with the agreement and that the privacy of individuals is protected. In the coming months, proposals will be developed and discussed across Government to ensure that bulk ANPR data-sharing with the police is subject to a robust regulatory regime which ensures reasonable transparency and scrutiny.

International Development

Palestinian Authority (UK Contribution)

The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Douglas Alexander): I wish to inform the House that the UK intends to make a contribution of £3 million to the Palestinian Authority (PA). This will go towards paying private sector arrears of around £225 million accrued by the PA. Combined with a £3 million contribution to the Temporary International Mechanism
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(TIM) in May, a £1 million contribution to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a £15.6 million payment to the UN Relief and Works Agency in April, this brings the UK’s total bilateral spend this financial year to £22.6 million.

The last year has seen a deterioration of the chronic economic decline in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israel has withheld clearance revenues owed to the PA, leading to the PA having to reduce or stop entirely the payment of civil servant salaries. At the same time, the PA has run up significant debts with private sector suppliers. This has in turn reduced investment, thereby further shrinking the productive capacity of the economy.

Israel has now agreed to transfer the customs revenue, allowing the Government to pay salaries again. However, the large backlog of public debt remains unpaid. The Prime Minister, Salaam Fayyad, has requested international support to address this. Direct international assistance through the Palestinian Authority’s Central Treasury Account will boost the economy and make clear international approval for Fayyad’s Government. It will also increase Palestinian companies’ ability to continue trading, and so invest and employ more people.

In the last year, DFID has provided £15 million out of a total of £265 million committed through the TIM. This has successfully stemmed the economic decline in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from a projected 27 per cent. to around 10 per cent. The Quartet recently extended the TIM until the end of September. It has already been aligned with the Ministry of Finance to enable full salaries to be paid to public sector workers. Following the creation of the Emergency Government in June, DFID can now resume direct financial assistance.

The UK is working with President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad as they seek to make the Palestinian Authority more responsive to the urgent needs of all Palestinians. But ultimately the only way to guarantee the long-term welfare of the people is for all sides to give up violence and work towards a two-state solution.

Justice

Prison Service (Annual Reports)

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Mr. David Hanson): The annual report of Her Majesty’s Prison Service for 2006-07 (HC 717) has today been laid before Parliament. The National Probation Service annual report has also been published today. Copies have been made available in the Libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The regional offender managers have, today, published their statement of performance on the NOMS website at: www.noms.justice.gov.uk. Copies have also been made available in the Libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.

The Prison Service report includes the financial accounts for 2006-07. The financial accounts for the National Probation Service will be published later in the year.

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Performance against all the national offender management targets for 2006-07 is shown in the table:

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Performance against the National Offender Management Targets for 2006-07
Protecting the Public	Annual Performance	Annual Target
No escapes of Category A prisoners	0	0
The rate of escapes from prison and prison service escorts is below 0.05% of the average prison population		0.05%
Public Prison	0.01%
Contracted Prison	0.001%
Fewer than 1 in 20,000 escapes from prison and prison service escorts	1:53,847	1:20,000
90% of risk of harm assessments, full analyses and Offender Assessment System (OASys) sentence plans, including risk management plans, completed within five working days of the commencement of order or release into the community	94%	90%
90% of risk of harm screenings/full analyses (as appropriate) and OASys sentence plans completed on Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPOs) within five working days of the commencement of the order or release into the community.	95%	90%
Supporting the Courts
90% of PSRs completed within required timelines	80%	90%
At least 85% of prisoners from prison or police cells are delivered to court before the agreed time	86%	85%
Firm and Fair Punishment
To initiate breach proceedings in accordance with national standards within 10 days in 90% of cases	92%	90%
85% of arranged appointments attended by the offender in the first 26 weeks of the order or licence	83%	85%
Ensure that the rate of self-inflicted deaths does not exceed 112.8 per 100,000 prison population
Public Prison	96.3 per 100,000	112.8 per 100,000
Contracted Prison	40.6 per 100,000
Reduce the number of serious assaults compared to the 05/06 outturn (this is an annualised rate)
Public prisons	1.66%	1.53%
Contracted prisons	3.6%	3.3%
To limit overcrowding so that the number of prisoners held in accommodation units intended for fewer prisoners does not exceed:
Public prisons	24.1%	24.0%
Contracted prisons	32.8%	34.5%
Helping to cut crime
Accredited Programmes Completed for All Prisons and Probation (including SOTP & DV)(1)	32,760	24,630
Public prisons	7,921	6,720
Contracted prisons	601	409
Probation: Accredited Programmes Completed	19,875	17,500
Probation: Domestic violence programmes	1,825	1,200
Sex offender treatment programmes (Prison and Probation)	2,525	2,400
Public prisons	1,160	1,160
Contracted prisons	64	80
Probation: Sex Offender Treatment Programmes	1,301	1,200
Prisoners have accommodation to go to on release from prison
Public prisons	65,733	70,000
Contracted prisons	6,098
Prisoners have employment, training or education on release
Public prisons	36,501	35,870
Contracted prisons	3,853
Offenders (in the community) are placed into employment	19,926	15,000
DTTO/Drug Rehabilitation Requirements completions	5,939	5,000
Completions of prison drug rehabilitation programmes
Public prisons	7,675	6,500
Contracted prisons	674
Reduce the number of those testing positive in random mandatory drug tests as a percentage of the prison population compared with 2005-06 outturn(2)		10.3%
Public prisons	8.6%
Contracted prisons	9.6%
Referrals to LSC in the community	60,418	48,000
Contracted and Wales Learning and Skills Awards delivered by LSC(3)	7,289	6,682
Contributing to Communities and Society
Completions of unpaid work requirements	55,514	50,000
85% of victims to be contacted within eight weeks of an offender receiving a conviction or 12 months or more for a serious sexual or violent offence	93% (April-December 2006)	85%
Organising and Supporting Delivery
Staff sickness in public prisons to be lower than 11.5 working days/person	11.64	11.50
Not to exceed nine days per person per annum in the probation service	12.01	9.00
At least 6% of the workforce in public prisons to be from minority ethnic groups by April 2007	5.9%	6.0%
95% of race and ethnic monitoring data on staff and offenders returned on time and using the correct (census 2001) classification	98%	95%
(1)Data relate to total programme completions (before quality reviews)
(2) MDT, March data will be adjusted in June (three months’lag time)
(3) Data available in April 2008. This metric contributes to the Learning and Skills Council Public Service Agreement (PSA) to increase the number of adults with the skills required for employability and progression to higher levels of training.
Note: Please note that Peterborough performance data are not included.

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