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25 July 2007 : Column 1164W—continued
Employment: Equality
Mr. Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2007, Official Report, column 983, on employment: equality, who conducted the review; when it (a) was established and (b) reported; and if he will publish its conclusions. [151602]
Bridget Prentice: The review mentioned in the answer of 3 July 2007 was an internal review of the policy on retirement ages of the judiciary and was intended to inform and advise the then Lord Chancellor about the retirement age policies currently in place. It was carried out by officials in the former Department for Constitutional Affairs and was timed to advise the Lord Chancellor ahead of the coming into force of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, in October 2006. The advice was not published. Following the advice, the Lord Chancellor concluded that no changes would be made to the current policies on retirement ages of the judiciary.
Google: Doubleclick
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 47-48W, on Google: Doubleclick, whether he has held discussions with the Information Commissioner on privacy and data protection in the context of Google’s proposed acquisition of Doubleclick; and if he will make a statement. [152433]
Mr. Wills: I have met with the Information Commissioner but we have not discussed privacy and data protection in the context of Google’s proposed acquisition of Doubleclick.
Irish Sea: Environment Protection
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what matters relating to environmental protection and control of liquid discharges to the Irish Sea were discussed at the British-Irish Council on 16 July in Belfast; and what decisions were reached. [152264]
Mr. Wills: There was a British-Irish Council (BIC) Summit in Belfast on 16 July, which was attended by the Prime Minister. The control of liquid discharge into the Irish Seas was not discussed during the BIC Summit meeting. The BIC is however continuing to intensify co-operation and exchange of information between the members on a number of important environmental areas, including unavoidable climate change, understanding extreme weather events, integrated coastal zone management and managing radioactive waste.
Judicial Appointments Commission for England and Wales: Secondment
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of the staff seconded from his Department to the Judicial Appointments Commission are of (a) senior leadership, (b) policy and (c) administrative support grades; whether staff who have been seconded to the Judicial Appointments Commission from his Department have maintained the same line management relationships with their existing managers; whether staff who have been seconded to the Judicial Appointments Commission from his Department may receive performance-related bonuses; what assessment he has made of the performance of the Judicial Appointments Commission; and if he will make a statement. [147977]
Mr. Straw [pursuant to the reply, 10 July 2007, Official Report, c. 1464-65W]: My officials have advised that I was given the incorrect data. As of 10 July, 70 staff were seconded from the Ministry of Justice, of those, 37 previously worked for the Lord Chancellor in this area, and 33 have not previously worked in this area.
Lancaster Farms Young Offender Institution: Civil Disorder
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost of the damage caused during the recent outbreak of disorder at Lancaster Farm young offender institution. [152017]
Maria Eagle: On 11 July 2007 at Lancaster Farm young offender institution a fight broke out between two groups of juveniles. The incident involved 16 young people and was resolved within 20 minutes. There was no damage to prison property and no costs were incurred.
Local Government: Electorate
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average electorate is for a single member (a) district council ward, (b) county council ward, ( c) unitary council ward, (d) London borough ward and (e) metropolitan council ward, in England. [152412]
Peter Viggers: I have been asked to reply.
The Electoral Commission informs me that there are no metropolitan councils with single member wards, and there is only one single member ward in all the London boroughs, with an electorate as at December 2006 of 3,760. The average electorate sizes for single member district council, county council, and unitary council wards are as set out in the following table. District and unitary council averages are based on December 2006 electoral registers, and that for county councils on December 2004 electoral registers.
| Council type | Average electorate for single-member electoral areas |
| Note: The Isle of Wight county council, which is a unitary county council, has been included in the county council figure. Source: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, University of Plymouth. | |
Pornography: Children
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many children have been (a) prosecuted, (b) given custodial sentences and (c) placed on the sex offenders register in each of the last five years; [150360]
(2) how many people have been prosecuted for computer-based child pornography offences in each of the last five years. [150325]
Maria Eagle: The number of children aged 10 to 17 prosecuted, at magistrates courts, sentenced and given custodial sentences for all offences (all offences include sexual, other indictable and summary offences) in England and Wales for the years 2001 to 2005 can be viewed in table 1.
The number of registered sex offenders in the community is published annually in the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) Annual Reports. The data are not broken down by the age of the offender.
It is not possible to separately identify computer based child pornography offences from other offences related to child pornography.
The number of persons prosecuted for offences relating to child pornography in England and Wales, for the years 2001 to 2005 can be viewed in table 2.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
| Number of persons aged 10 to 17 proceeded against at magistrates court, sentenced and given custodial sentences for all offences in England and Wales for the years 2001 to 2005( 1, 2) | |||
| Age 10-17 | |||
| Proceeded against | Sentenced | Of which: immediate custody | |
| (1 )These data are provided on the principal offence basis. (2 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice. | |||
Prisoners Transfers
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what (a) prison service orders, (b) prison service instructions and (c) other written directions have been issued to (i) police, (ii) prison, (iii) court and (iv) transporting staff directing them not to detain prisoners in prisoner transport vehicles when awaiting or following court hearings. [152348]
Maria Eagle: No written instructions or directions have been issued in regard to the use of transport vehicles to hold prisoners awaiting or following court hearings. The National Offender Management Service have to date received no reports of prisoners being held on vehicles because cells are not available in courts.
Prisoners: Mentally Ill
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of prisoners held in prisons are prescribed medication for mental health-related reasons. [152044]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally. Individual prison prescribing records would have to be checked to provide this information, which could be done only at a disproportionate cost.
Prisoners: Rehabilitation
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners who underwent treatment programmes for addiction in prison were referred to outside programmes on their release from prison in each of the last five years. [152046]
Mr. Hanson: A comprehensive framework is in place to ensure the continuation of drug treatment on release from prison:
prisons are fully engaged with the Home Office-led drug interventions programme; and
for those released on licence, probation offender managers facilitate drug treatment within the sentence planning process.
Information on the numbers engaged in prison treatment subsequently referred to community programmes is not held centrally.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of the prisoners released under the Government's early release scheme were undergoing treatment for drug or alcohol-related problems; and how many of those were required to continue such treatment outside prison as part of the terms of their early release. [152047]
Mr. Hanson: Drug treatment can only be provided with consent and cannot therefore directly be made a condition of early release. Information on the number of prisoners undergoing treatment for drug problems at the time of release on end of custody licence is not held centrally. I will write to the hon. Member with the information and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Information on those undergoing treatment for an alcohol problem is not collated.
Prisons: Construction
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost of providing an additional 10,000 prison places by 2012. [152045]
Mr. Hanson: A new capacity-building programme which will deliver 8,000 new prison places by 2012 was announced by the Home Secretary in June 2006. A further 1,500 places were announced by the Lord Chancellor on 19 June 2007.
Estimated capital costs for the 8,000 place programme are around £1.5 billion and estimated annual running costs are expected to be around £0.35 billion once the programme is completed. The costs of both programmes will be met using existing resources and new funds from the Treasury.
Prisons: Expenditure
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was spent on prisons in each of the last three years; and what estimate he has made of the cost for the next three years. [152036]
Mr. Hanson: The total spend on prisons is shown in the following table. This includes spending by HMPS, contracted out prisons, and prisons-related spending met directly by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). It excludes spending on juveniles which is met by the Youth Justice Board.
| £ million | |
The figures include (a) HM Prison Service net cash outflow(2) as recorded in its annual accounts, (b) spending on contracted prisons excluding non-cash items, and (c) for 2005-06 and 2006-07, a detailed estimate of spending on services which transferred from the Prison Service to NOMS centre (for example property costs) excluding non-cash items.
The estimated spending in 2007-08, on the same basis, is £2,606 million. For subsequent years the budget on total prisons costs has not yet been formulated.
(2 )The net cash outflow covers spending on pay and ongoing no pay items and excludes capital expenditure and non-cash accounting charges such as depreciation.
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