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23 Oct 2007 : Column 291Wcontinued
Contracted Prisons | |
Prison (provider) | Shortfall as at 30 September 2007 |
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average cost of transferring a prisoner between prisons was in 2006-07; and if he will make a statement. [158968]
Mr. Hanson: The average cost of moving an individual prisoner between prisons in 2006-07 was £102.79 exclusive of VAT charges as recorded by the Inter-Prison Transfer contractor. However, there are a number of locally managed prisoner movements between prisons that do not have a centrally recorded cost.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were transferred between prisons during their sentence (a) in each of the last 12 months and (b) in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [158970]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the monthly number of prison to prison transfers of individual prisoners in England and Wales, recorded by the Inter-Prison Transfer contractor, in each financial year from 2002-03 to 2006-07.
2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
There are also a number of locally managed prisoner movements between prisons that are not reported centrally.
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners (a) detained on remand and (b) serving a custodial sentence were previously members of the armed forces in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [159440]
Mr. Hanson: Data from nationally representative surveys of some 2,000 sentenced prisoners near release conducted in 2001, 2003 and 2004 show the proportion of prisoners who had previously served in the armed forces as 6 per cent., 4 per cent. and 5 per cent. respectively.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the contribution that structured volunteering can make to restorative justice; and if he will make a statement. [160223]
Mr. Hanson: No specific, formal assessment has been made of the contribution that volunteering can make to restorative justice but we encourage partnership working in this area and many restorative justice schemes engage the services of the voluntary sector. For example, Youth Offending Panels are made up of trained volunteers from the local community and design intervention programmes for juveniles referred from youth courts. A number of voluntary sector providers are partners in schemes delivering adult restorative justice and there are local initiatives such as the Chard and Ilminster Community Justice Panel, which is made up of local, trained volunteers and uses restorative justice processes to deliver Acceptable Behaviour Contracts for cases involving minor offences that do not go to court.
The main restorative justice voluntary sector and practitioner organisations were among those who helped to develop Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Justice Practitioners, which was published by the Home Office in December 2004 and now forms the basis of National Occupational Standards.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what response he has made to the Law Commissions recommendations for reform of limitation periods; [159689]
(2) when he intends to publish a Bill containing provisions relating to reform of limitation periods. [159690]
Bridget Prentice: In July 2002, the Government accepted the Law Commissions recommendations to reform the law of limitation in principle, subject to further consideration of certain aspects. In January 2007, the Government announced their intention to consult in spring 2007 on the detailed content of a draft Bill to implement these recommendations.
It has not yet been possible to complete the detailed examination of the impact of the proposals. The Government will publish proposals for consultation as soon as possible after this work is complete. We expect this to be early in 2008.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many inmates have absconded from Sudbury open prison since the beginning of the year; how many of these were convicted murderers; and what further steps he is taking to ensure that persons sent to prison remain in custody. [159660]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is being collated and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what organisation was commissioned to run the speed dating youth conference on 9 October 2007. [160250]
Bridget Prentice: Solent Peoples theatre was commissioned to run the political speed dating at Your Voice Countsthe Ministry of Justices Youth conference on 9 October 2007.
22. Andrew Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps he is taking to increase opportunities for young people to undertake voluntary work. [159750]
27. Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps he is taking to encourage more young people to volunteer. [159755]
Phil Hope: In May 2006 the youth volunteering charity v was launched with government funding. v has the lead in delivering quality, quantity and diversity of volunteering opportunities for young people aged 16-25 in England. To date, v has commissioned 200,000 youth volunteering opportunities for young people.
23. Mr. Anthony Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will take steps to ensure that the public service agreement for social exclusion supports socially excluded adults with mental health problems. [159751]
Gillian Merron: Helping more of the most excluded adults, including those with serious mental health problems, to obtain a job as well as a home is a key priority across Government through the Socially Excluded Adults public service agreement.
28. Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent progress has been made on raising the aspirations of the most socially excluded adults. [159756]
Gillian Merron: The new social exclusion public service agreement and adults facing chronic exclusion pilots will help socially excluded adults get back onto the path to success and meet their aspirations by ensuring access to personalised services.
24. Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to support the work of small community organisations. [159752]
Phil Hope: Small community organisations are an essential part of a strong local voluntary sector and thriving communities. Support for their work is a key priority for the Government.
The Office of the Third Sector has created the £30 million Community Assets Fund which will to help community groups to take on the management or ownership of assets. It is also introducing a new £80 million programme of small grants for small community and voluntary organisations, and a £50 million programme of endowment grants to help local foundations to provide an enduring source of funding.
25. Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the role of voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of public services. [159753]
26. Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the role of voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of public services. [159754]
Phil Hope: Voluntary organisations have an important role to play in the design, development and delivery of public services. Public services are able to improve further by fully drawing on the understanding, experience, innovation and flexibility of the third sector. The involvement of voluntary organisations is a key part of the Government's desire to transform the delivery of services.
30. Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Compact on relations between Government and the voluntary and community sector. [159759]
Phil Hope: Since this Government agreed the Compact with the sector in 1998, it has been assessed annually through a joint review meeting The review meeting reports on progress and agrees a joint action plan for the forthcoming year. This plan is signed off by both the government and the sector. Through the annual review meeting, consensus has been reached on further measures to strengthen the Compact such as the establishment of a Commission for the Compact in 2005. The Third Sector Review which was published in July 2007 renewed the commitment to the Compact and asked the Office of the Third Sector to work with the Commission and the sector in reviewing the Compact to further strengthen the partnership.
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