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12 Sep 2007 : Column 2088W—continued
Constituencies
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to ensure that future elections in new parliamentary constituencies with recently revised district council ward boundaries are conducted on the basis of the new boundaries. [155134]
Mr. Wills: New parliamentary boundaries are delineated by reference to district council wards as they exist at a particular point in time. However, the use of wards is merely the most convenient method by which to describe the physical geographical area of the constituency. There is no legislative requirement to run a parliamentary election on the basis of local government wards. The administrative units for the running of a parliamentary election are the polling district and the constituency.
As and when wards are amended, the parliamentary constituency will therefore not automatically change, although the Parliamentary Boundary Commission will consider whether an interim review and possible amendment to the parliamentary constituency may be justified.
Criminal Justice Act 2003
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to bring outstanding sections of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 into effect. [155205]
Mr. Hanson: Of the 329 substantive sections in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 the vast majority have been brought wholly into force. Only a small percentage of the remainder remain unimplemented. These figures are shown in the following table.
Officials are actively working on these areas of legislation with a view to implementation; considering resource implications; undertaking pilot exercises; or examining other necessary procedures and practices.
| Number of sections | Percentage of sections | |
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have been appointed to his Department outside civil service grades in the last 30 days. [153028]
Mr. Wills: The number of appointments outside of civil service grades in the last 30 days is not held centrally. To obtain this information each individual business area within my Department would have to be contacted at a disproportionate cost.
Electronic Conveyancing
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the provision of e-conveyancing through the chain matrix system. [155329]
Mr. Wills: Land Registry is empowered by primary legislation under the Land Registration Act 2002 to create the Chain Matrix as the system by which e-conveyancing, a statutory service, is accessed. As such, Land Registry is not obliged to offer alternative methods of access or service delivery. Chain Matrix itself, however, is not a unique product within the market as there are other types of electronic property sale tracking systems operating at present. As such, the monopoly question does not apply.
Firearms: Sentencing
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in England and Wales were sentenced for offences, committed when over the age of 18 years, under sections 5(1)(a), (ab), (aba), (ac), (ad), (ae), (af) or (c), or section 5(1A)(a) of the Firearms Act 1968, to (a) five or more years imprisonment, (b) imprisonment of less than five years and (c) a non-custodial sentence in each year since 2004. [155206]
Mr. Hanson: The number of persons aged 18 or over in England and Wales sentenced under the above sections of the Firearms Act (1968) for the years 2004 and 2005 are given as follows:
| 2004 | 2005 | |
Although the persons were convicted in 2004 and 2005, the offence was not necessarily committed in those years and may have been committed before the introduction of the minimum sentence in January 2004.
Although care is taken in collating and analysing the returns used to compile these figures, the data are of necessity subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Consequently, although figures are shown to the last digit in order to provide a comprehensive record of the information collected, they are not necessarily accurate to the last digit shown.
Home Detention Curfews
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were released early under the home detention curfew scheme in each of the last five years; and for which offences those released had been convicted. [155180]
Mr. Hanson: Figures on the numbers of prisoners released on home detention curfew from prison establishments in England and Wales between 2001 and 2005 can be found in the following table:
| Home detention curfew release( 1) by offence group( 2) | |||||
| Offence Group( 1) | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| (1) Offence recorded on Prison Service IT system. Investigations suggest that around 5 per cent. of offence types recorded on this system do not relate to the offence they were released on HDC for but relate to offences committed after release from prison and before the licence expiry date for their sentence. (2) Includes the offence of bigamy. | |||||
The table has been drawn from published figures in annual volumes of Prison Statistics in England and Wales, and Offender Management Caseload Statistics.
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.
Home Detention Curfews: Cambridgeshire
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many individuals normally domiciled in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire have been released early from the prison estate under the Early Release scheme in the 12 months to 31 August; and if he will make a statement. [155321]
Mr. Hanson: It is assumed that the question relates to the End of Custody Licence Scheme which was implemented on 29 June 2007. Information on the domicile of prisoners released under the scheme is not centrally available, would require reference to paper files and could not be provided without disproportionate cost.
However, the hon. Member’s attention is drawn to the website http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/endofcustodylicence.htm from which it is clear that 19 prisoners were released under the scheme from Peterborough prison between 6 and 31 July.
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.
Illegal Broadcasting: Video Recordings
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for the supply of video works to individuals who are under the age of the designated classification in each of the last 10 years. [155295]
Mr. Wills: Data on the number of prosecutions and convictions under the Video Recording Act 1984, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, in England and Wales 1996 to 2005 can be found in the table.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
| N umber of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Video Recording Act 1984, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, in England and Wales 1996-2005( 1,2,3,4) | ||||||
| Offence description | ||||||
| Supplying video recording of classified work in breach of classification | Supplying video recording of unclassified work | Persons video recording of unclassified work for the purpose of supply | ||||
| Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | Prosecuted | Found guilty | |
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