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30 Oct 2007 : Column 1150W—continued
| Table 2: estimated number of individuals( 1) who self-harmed in prison custody | ||||||||||
| Nationality | 1997( 2) | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| (1) These are estimates of the number of individuals, based on 94 per cent. of recorded incidents of self-harm. Recorded self-harm is based on information supplied by prisons through the Prison Service Incident Reporting System (IRS). Self-harm is a high volume incident and is subject to technical and recording problems. Nevertheless, the system provides a sensible indication of the numbers of incidents and individuals who self-harm but the numbers should not be treated as absolute. (2) Please note that the way self-harm is reported in prisons improved in 2002 and figures before then are not comparable. | ||||||||||
Prisons: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) assaults on, (b) sexual assaults on and (c) homicides of prisoners by other prisoners occurred in each year since 1997; [158338]
(2) how many (a) assaults and (b) sexual assaults on prison officers by prisoners occurred in each year since 1997. [158341]
Mr. Hanson: Measuring violence in prisons is imprecise. Acts of violence first have to be recognised as violence, secondly reported and thirdly recorded consistently. Different aspects of reported acts of violence can be counted in different ways, for example by reference to the act itself, the perpetrator, the victim, or the injury.
The following tables contain the numbers requested. Although information on assault incidents has been collected since 1997, the emphasis initially was on reporting more serious incidents and most fights tended not to be reported on the incident reporting system. However, all assaults including fights are required to be reported, and due to significantly improved reporting, figures from 2002 are not directly comparable with those collected in earlier years. They are therefore presented separately.
| Table 1: Assaults 1997 to 2001 | |||||
| Type of assault | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Table 2: Assaults 2002-06 | |||||
| Type of assault | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
Prisons: Food
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of each type of food served in prisons in England and Wales was of (a) British, (b) English and (c) Welsh origin in the last year for which figures are available. [160563]
Mr. Hanson: The total proportion of food of each origin cannot be accurately stated as the majority produce is of more than one country.
Prisons: Standards
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints have been received by HM prison service about the commissioning of Ron Tasker’s investigation; what action was taken on receipt of these complaints; and if he will make a statement. [161519]
Maria Eagle: My Department does not hold a central record of complaints received by the prison service into the commissioning of the Tasker investigation.
Privy Council: Retirement
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many employees in the Privy Council Office applied to continue to work beyond state retirement age in the latest year or part thereof for which figures are available; and how many of those applications were successful. [161294]
Mr. Wills: No employees in the Privy Council Office applied to continue to work beyond state retirement age in the latest year or part thereof.
Racially Aggravated Offences
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for inciting racial hatred there were in each year since 1997. [160969]
The Solicitor-General: I have been asked to reply.
The Attorney-General’s office keeps data on prosecutions under part 3 of the Public Order Act 1986, relating to offences concerning conduct intended to, or likely to, stir up racial hatred. The following table captures the relevant AGO data for the period 1997 to 2007 inclusive. The AGO statistics are recorded by reference to the year in which each case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by the police, rather than the year in which an offender was eventually convicted.
| Year( 1) | Number of offenders convicted |
| (1) Year the case were referred to CPS by police. | |
Sexual Offences
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which areas have been selected as pilot schemes for compulsory polygraph tests as a management tool to control sex offenders; and if he will make a statement. [161846]
Maria Eagle: The terms for a pilot of mandatory polygraph testing of certain sex offenders on licensed release from custody, including which areas will participate in the pilots, have yet to be finalised. The purpose of the pilot, limited to two probation regions, would be to determine whether polygraph testing is a useful additional risk management tool for offender managers supervising sex offenders in the community.
Sexual Offences: Children
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted of sexual offences against children in each year from 1980-81 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [153941]
Mr. Hanson: Information on the number of people convicted of sexual offences against children for the years 1995 to 2005 can be viewed in the following table.
Information for 1980 to 1994 is being gathered and I will write to the hon. Gentleman and place a copy in the Libraries of the House once available.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
| The number of persons found guilty at all courts for sexual offences against children in England and Wales for the years 1995 to 2005( 1, 2, 3, 4) | |
| Found guilty | |
| (1) These data are 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. (3) 128 offences have been used In this table and include sections of the following statutes: Sexual Offences Act 2003, Sexual Offences Act 1956, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 1967. (4) Some offences have been omitted as the vast majority of data will be against adults, and a minority will be against children. Source: Court proceedings database—Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice. | |
Substantive answer from David Hanson to David Laws:
In the response to PQ 153941 sent on 10/09/2007 I undertook to provide the additional information when it became available.
Information on the number of people convicted of sexual offences against children for the years 1980 to 1994 can be viewed in the attached table.
Court proceedings data are available on a calendar year basis.
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