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13 Nov 2007 : Column 145W—continued
Highdown Prison: Prisoners Release
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners at HMP Prison Highdown were released within three (a) days and (b) weeks of commencing a sentence of six weeks or longer in the last six months. [162856]
Mr. Hanson: The detailed records requested on the total numbers of prisoners released from specific establishments who meet the criteria specified are not collated centrally. It would incur disproportionate cost to check individual prisoner records at the establishment to confirm whether any individual cases met the specific criteria of the question.
HMP Channing Wood: Parole
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) convicted offences and (b) nationalities were of the 34 people who received early releases since June 2007 from Channing Wood Prison, Denbury, South Devon. [163484]
Mr. Hanson: It is not possible to determine the precise offence for each of the 34 prisoners released on ECL since 29 June 2007 from Channings Wood without incurring disproportionate cost. In this case individual case records at the establishment would need to be checked. We do not currently publish nationality as part of the ECL report.
Foreign national prisoners who are liable to deportation at the end of their sentence are not eligible for release under the End of Custody Licence scheme. On average nationally some 6 per cent. of prisoners released on ECL are foreign nationals who did not meet the criteria for deportation.
Human Trafficking
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many victims of human trafficking (a) are estimated to be in the UK and (b) have been returned from the UK to their country of origin in each of the last five years. [161904]
Maria Eagle: Trafficking is predominantly a covert crime and it is not possible to provide accurate figures on the number of victims. Home Office research on organised crime markets suggests that at any one time in 2003 there were up to 4,000 women trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation.
Data on returns relating to victims of trafficking in the last five years is not held centrally. Many victims of trafficking want to return home and voluntary returns are always the preferred option for those who have no basis to remain in the UK. The Government works in partnership with the International Organization for Migration to run Assisted Voluntary Returns programmes that provide victims with resettlement support. Removal action is considered as a last resort.
Legal Aid Scheme: Foster Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what representations he has received on the impact of changes in legal aid on residential family assessments and on the future of kinship care. [164032]
Maria Eagle: Between 1 March and 9 November 2007, my Department received seven representations on the removal of residential assessments from the scope of legal aid. The Legal Services Commission (LSC), who published a consultation on the subject, “The Funding Criteria for Child Care Proceedings”, received 44 responses.
The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) (formerly the Department for Education and Skills) consulted on revised draft guidance, “The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 1 Court Orders”. This places an increased emphasis on preparation by local authorities prior to launching proceedings, ensuring that applications are made only after kinship placement options for the child have been explored. 29 responses were received to this consultation, which are now being considered. The DCSF has also published “Care Matters: Time for Change”, which sets out the Government’s intention to legislate to enable carers who are relatives to apply for
residence orders in circumstances where a child has been living with them for a continuous period of at least one year.
Prison Service: Sick Leave
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much sick leave (a) prison officers and (b) other staff in each of the Welsh prison establishments (i) took in each year since 1997 and (ii) have taken in 2007 to date. [162793]
Mr. Hanson: Information on the total amount of sickness absence taken by officer grade staff and all other grades in Welsh prisons is shown in the following tables.
| Sickness absence taken in Welsh prisons (public sector) | ||||||
| Cardiff working days lost | Swansea working days lost | Usk/Prescoed working days lost | ||||
| Year( 1) | Total | Per person | Total | Per person | Total | Per person |
| (1) Within the public sector reliable sickness absence data is only available from 1999-2000. (2) For 2007-08 the rate per person is an annualised rate. | ||||||
| Sickness absence taken at HMP Parc (private sector) | ||
| Parc( 1) working days lost | ||
| Officers | Other staff | |
| (1) Rate per person is not available. | ||
Prisoners Release
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average licence period has been for prisoners released from prison before completing their sentence. [162600]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is available from table 10.1 (for adults aged 21+) and table 10.2 (for young offenders) of the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2005, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library, and the table can be found at the Home Department website:
For adult prisoners aged 21 or over, discharged in 2005 from prison establishments in England and Wales serving determinate sentences, the average length of sentence was 16.8 months and the average time served in custody was nine months, so that the average licence period was 7.8 months, or 46 per cent. of the sentence length (excludes discharges following recall after release on licence, non-criminals, persons committed to custody for non-payment of a fine and persons reclassified as adult prisoners).
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.
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