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19 Nov 2007 : Column 521W—continued
Prisoners: Females
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many women were sentenced to prison in each year since 2000; [164407]
(2) how many women were imprisoned in each year since 1997. [165454]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is contained in the following table.
| Number of women sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales | |
Figures for 2006 will be published in mid-December.
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.
Prisons: Drugs
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the percentage of prisoners who have taken illegal drugs while in prison in the latest period for which figures are available. [164817]
Mr. Hanson: The best measure of drug misuse in prisons is provided by the random mandatory drug testing programme. The positive rate for 2006-07 was 8.8 per cent.
Prisons: Television
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many television sets have been bought by the prison service in each year since 1997; and what the cost of such purchases was in each year. [164565]
Maria Eagle: There are two categories of television set purchasing in the Prison Service. Firstly, there are the sets purchased by the Prison Service for use in communal areas within prisons and, where appropriate, office locations across the service. Details of the sets purchased in these circumstances are not recorded centrally, and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Secondly, since 1998 there has been a programme of purchasing television sets for prisoners' use in their cells. The number of sets purchased in these circumstances are as follows:
| Number of sets purchased | |
The costs information of these purchases is classed as commercially sensitive. However with the exception of 1998-99 when £500,000 of public funds were used to start up the In-Cell TV initiative, all of these sets have been funded from the weekly rental charges collected from prisoners.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners receive Sky or other digital television services in their cells; and what the cost to the Prison Service was of prisoners receiving such services in their cells in financial year 2006-07. [164781]
Maria Eagle: No prisoners in public sector prisons now receive Sky or other television channels in their cells for which a subscription is payable. Where it was previously provided, the cost cannot be separated from the subscriptions for Sky TV in communal areas. In advance of the national conversion to digital reception, some prisoners on the enhanced privilege level have been allowed receivers for free-to-air digital in cell, often at their own expense. No new Freeview boxes have been permitted since October 2006. Details of those previously provided at Prison Service expense, and the cost, are not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
To date, in-cell television installations in 22 prison establishments have been converted to receive digital broadcasts as part of the national conversion from analogue. The cost (£545,781 (excluding VAT) in 2006-07) is being covered from the rental paid by individual prisoners.
In three contracted prisons—Altcourse, Lowdham Grange and Parc—1,230 prisoners have limited access to Sky TV in cell as an earned privilege. The number of eligible prisoners varies daily. The cost is met by the contractors.
Street Offences Act 1959
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offences under the Street Offences Act 1959 there were in each year since 1997; and how many of those convicted were (a) 16 or 17-years-old and (b) 18 years or older. [164405]
Maria Eagle: The information requested on the number of defendants found guilty under the Street Offences Act 1959 in England and Wales for the years 1997-2005 is provided in the following table. Information for 2006 will be available at the end of November 2007.
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what meetings he has had with trade union representatives in the last 12 months. [164081]
Mr. Straw: Since I became the Secretary of State for Justice in late June 2007, I have met with trade union representatives on six occasions regarding departmental business.
These have been with representatives from the Prison Officers Association, the Prison Governors Association, the Prison Service Joint Industrial Council, the Transport and General Workers Union, Amicus, GMB, Unison and the Trade Union Congress.
If the right hon. Gentleman wish to know about my time as Leader of the Commons please let me know.
Violent and Sex Offender Register
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps have been taken to make access to the Violent and Sex Offender Register compliant with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. [163729]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice and The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) fully support the important principle that their employees have equality of access to technology and the tools which underpin their daily work. We are working closely with The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which owns the ViSOR system, our suppliers and assisted technology users within NOMS to identify the changes required to ViSOR to make it compatible with assistive technologies. Initial results suggest it is already compliant in many areas but further tests are being scheduled.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the training database for the Violent and Sex Offender Register is available in all Probation Board areas in England and Wales. [163919]
Maria Eagle: Access to the ViSOR training database, hosted at National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) Hendon, is in the process of being made available to all Probation Board areas. This work is being progressed as part of the current deployment of ViSOR to the National Probation Service.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the timetable is for the deployment by police authorities and probation areas in England and Wales of the Violent and Sex Offender Register. [163920]
Maria Eagle: The deployment of ViSOR to police forces in England and Wales was completed by the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO), in March 2005. Deployment to probation areas commenced on 1 October 2007 and is scheduled to complete in spring 2008.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what his Department’s expenditure on the Violent and Sex Offender Register is in each financial year of the lifetime of the project; [163921]
(2) how much his Department has spent on the Violent and Sex Offender’s Register in each financial year of the project; and how much has been allocated to the project for each financial year within the existing planning horizon. [164061]
Maria Eagle: Existing and planned expenditure by the Ministry of Justice between 2005 and 2015 on the deployment of ViSOR into the National Offender Management Service is:
| Financial year | Expenditure (£ million) |
|
(1) Includes £l million per annum contribution, shared between probation boards, to ViSOR running costs. | |
Funding allocations to the project over the lifetime of the ViSOR business case (2005-15) are as follows:
| Financial year | Expenditure/Allocations (£ million) |
Costs include depreciation and cost of capital.
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