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17 Sep 2007 : Column 2246W—continued
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the adequacy of supply of unpaid work supervisors between January and August, broken down by probation area. [155368]
Mr. Hanson: The probation Human Resources Workforce Information Report for June 2007 records that at the end of December 2006 there were 31.29 full-time equivalent vacancies related to unpaid work supervision that were the subject of an active recruitment process. These data are not broken down by probation area.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours of unpaid work were ordered by the courts during 2006-07. [155379]
Mr. Hanson: There were 9,162,000 (rounded) hours of unpaid work ordered by the courts on unpaid work requirements commencing probation supervision between 1 April 2006 and 31 March 2007.
This figure has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many orders for unpaid work were completed during 2006-07. [155380]
Mr. Hanson: There were 42,210 unpaid work requirements completed during 2006-07.
This figure has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders were sentenced to unpaid work during 2006-07. [155381]
Mr. Hanson: There were 94,349 offenders who commenced unpaid work requirements under probation supervision during 2006-07 following sentence by the courts.
This figure has been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any national probation areas have experienced difficulties in transporting offenders to unpaid work placements since January 2007. [155382]
Mr. Hanson: We do not collect information centrally about the transport of offenders to unpaid work placements. From time to time it is possible that difficulties may arise as a result of staff being unavailable at short notice, or mechanical difficulties with vehicles, for example.
Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders have been stood down during any period of unpaid work in (a) North Yorkshire, (b) Cheshire, (c) Warwickshire, (d) Avon and Somerset, (e) Wiltshire, (f) Essex, (g) Dorset, (h) Norfolk, (i) Cheshire, (j) Devon, (k) Greater London and (l) Gwent probation areas since January. [155383]
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any unpaid work groups have been stood down in (a) North Yorkshire, (b) Cheshire, (c) Warwickshire, (d) Avon and Somerset, (e) Wiltshire, (f) Essex, (g) Dorset, (h) Norfolk, (i) Devon, (j) Greater London and (k) Gwent probation area since January. [155369]
Mr. Hanson: The total number of offenders who have been stood down from unpaid work is not available centrally, but the National Offender Management Service monitors the number of unpaid work days lost as a result of offenders being instructed in advance not to attend, or having been sent home after reporting for work, as a result of operational difficulties. This is expressed as a percentage of the total days worked. For the areas requested the percentage of days lost is as follows:
| Probation area | Percentage of days lost, January to June 2007 |
Nationally the total number of unpaid work days lost as a result of offenders being instructed not to attend on particular days, or being stood down having reported for work is 4.8 per cent. of the total days worked.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders sentenced to unpaid work since 1 January 2007 have been unable to commence their sentences owing to a lack of supervising staff or placements. [155568]
Mr. Hanson: Between January and the end of June national data indicate that 40,218 offenders have undertaken an initial pre-placement session of unpaid work. Of these offenders 38,808 are recorded as having received an instruction to attend for subsequent sessions of unpaid work. This would suggest that 1,410 or 3.5 per cent. of offenders did not immediately commence their sentences. Those offenders who were not instructed following the initial session of unpaid work would have been instructed to attend on a subsequent date, unless the requirement was terminated as a result of breach action, or the requirement was revoked for another reason.
Crime: Victims
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many payments of compensation to victims were ordered by courts for (a) young and (b) adult offenders in each of the last three years; [155392]
(2) how many payments of compensation to victims have been made by (a) young and (b) adult offenders in each of the last three years. [155393]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested on compensation orders imposed by the courts, for the years 2003-05, is contained in the following table.
Data are collected by HM Court Service on the value of financial penalties (including compensation) paid but do not enable the number of payments to be identified.
| Offenders( 1) ordered to pay compensation at all courts by age group, England and Wales, 2003-05 | |
| Age group | Number of offenders ordered to pay compensation |
| (1) Principal offence basis. Source: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice | |
These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
Custody Plus Scheme
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to introduce Custody Plus. [155503]
Mr. Hanson: No decision has yet been taken as to when Custody Plus will be introduced.
Departments: Delivery Services
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what volume of correspondence his Department sent (a) by Royal Mail and (b) by other commercial delivery services in each of the last five years; and what the reasons were for the use of other commercial delivery services. [150455]
Maria Eagle: Since the Ministry of Justice was only formed on 9 May 2007, my response refers to the former Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and those bodies which were formerly part of the Home Office which are now part of the new Department.
(a) Information about the volume of correspondence sent by Royal Mail is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
(b) Regarding the use of other commercial delivery services, for the last five years the former DCA used one other licensed carrier, DX Network Services.
Information relating to the whole of the period is not held. Information for the last two years is as follows:
| Item | |
These figures are based on the results of an annual sampling exercise extrapolated to provide an annual usage figure.
DX Network Services provides a cost effective and efficient mail service between courts, to the legal profession and other business addresses.
Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR)
Information about the volume of correspondence sent by Royal Mail and other commercial delivery services is not available.
National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
Information about the volume of correspondence sent by Royal Mail and other commercial delivery services is not available.
Information about the volume of correspondence sent by Royal Mail and other commercial delivery services is not available.
Postage is handled on an individual prison basis and there are no central contracts for mail collection and distribution; volumes are not recorded either.
Drugs: Misuse
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of people convicted of drug offences as a result of the Misuse of Drugs Act 2005; and how many such people have received a prison sentence. [152257]
Maria Eagle: Regulations under the Misuse of Drugs (Designation) (Amendment) Order 2005 came into force on 18 July 2005 and reclassified magic mushrooms as class A drugs. The following table shows the number of defendants convicted at all courts, sentenced, and sentenced to immediate custody for drug offences related to “other class A drugs” in England and Wales for the years 1996-2005.
It is not possible to identify which convictions related specifically to magic mushrooms because all offences for the less commonly used class A drugs are grouped together and therefore cannot be separately identified. Additionally, as the regulations came into force in 2005 it is likely that they would have had an impact only on the number of convictions from 2006 onwards.
Data for 2006 will be available in the autumn.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences in relation to the production, supply, possession, and possession with intent to supply as well as the use of premises for the production of “other class A” drugs, England and Wales 2001-05( 1,)( )( 2,)( )( 3,)( )( 4,)( )( 5) | ||||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | 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 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. (3) Offences under sections 4(2), 4(3), 0(2), 5(3) and 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 respectively. (4) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. (5) Does not include convictions for separately classified class A drugs such as cocaine, heroin, methadone, morphine, LSD and ecstasy. Source: Court proceedings database—Office for Criminal Justice Reform. | ||||
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