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In the current bid round for the procurement area of Berkshire (covering Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell, Wokingham, Reading and West Berkshire), we are offering 2,050 new matter starts to cover housing, debt, welfare benefits, community care and employment. The intention is for providers in Slough to cover the whole Berkshire area and vice versa. In Berkshire the maximum number of new matter starts is 1,500 for social welfare law (debt; housing; welfare benefits; employment; community care) and 550 for family law.

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Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) budget and (b) remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department; who the chairman is of each; and to what salary, including bonuses and expenses, each chairman is entitled. [163605]

Maria Eagle: The information requested is shown in Table 1 in respect of executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) sponsored by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Information on 2007-08 budgets is consistent with the Winter Supplementary Estimate laid before Parliament on 15 November 2007.

The Northern Ireland Court Service (NICtS) supports the Lord Chancellor in discharging his ministerial responsibilities in Northern Ireland, including responsibility for judicial appointments and legal aid. It also sponsors two executive NDPBs and their details can be found in Table 2.

Following machinery of Government changes, on 9 May 2007 the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Youth Justice Board and Parole Board transferred from the Home Office and became the responsibility of the newly formed MoJ. The Judicial Appointments Commission, Legal Services Commission and Information Commissioner’s Office were formerly sponsored by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and are now sponsored by MoJ.

Details of the remit, Government funding and gross expenditure of public bodies sponsored by NICtS, the former DCA and the Home Office can be found in executive NDPBs’ annual reports, which are in the Libraries of the House. Details can also be found in the Cabinet Office publication “Public Bodies 2006”, which is available in the Library of the House and online at

www.civilservice.gov.uk

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Table 1: MoJ executive non-departmental public bodies
NDPB	2007-08 Budget	Remit	Current chairman	2006-07 salary
Judicial Appointments Commission	£7.1 million	The JAC is the independent public body that selects and recommends candidates for judicial office in England and Wales. It does so on merit, through fair and open competition and from the widest range of eligible candidates.	Baroness Prashar	£105,000
Legal Services Commission	£2,141.4 million	The LSC runs the legal aid scheme in England and Wales, providing information, advice and legal representation to help about two million people each year get access to justice. The Community Legal Service helps people with civil legal problems such as family breakdown, debt, asylum and housing. The Criminal Defence Service helps people who are Under police investigation or facing criminal charges	Sir Michael Bichard	£69,000
Office of the Information Commissioner	£5.0 million net (after setting off notification fees collected under the Data Protection Act 1998 against expenditure on Data Protection functions as Data Protection activities are self funded through collection of the fee which is forecast to be £10.6 million).	The ICO is the UK’s independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information. The ICO enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.	Richard Thomas (Information Commissioner)	£98,592
Criminal Cases Review Commission	£6.8 million	The CCRC is the independent public body set up to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Commission assesses whether convictions or sentences should be referred to a court of appeal.	Professor Graham Zellick	£165,900
Parole Board	£7.8 million	The Parole Board for England and Wales is an independent public body that works with its criminal justice partners to protect the public by making risk assessments about prisoners to decide whether they can be safely released into the community and must remain in or be returned to custody.	Professor Sir Duncan Nichol CBE	£75,000-£80,000
Youth Justice Board	£424.8 million	The YJB is responsible for overseeing the youth justice system in England and Wales. It works to prevent offending and re-offending by children and young people under the age of 18 and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.	Graham Robb (interim)—from February 2007	£10,000-£15,000 (2 months as chair and 10 as a member)

Table 2: Northern Ireland Court Service executive non-departmental public bodies (NDPB)
NDPB	2007-08 Budget (£ million )	Remit	Current chairman	2006-07 Salary
Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission	1.5	To make recommendations for appointments to judicial offices in Northern Ireland up to and including High Court Judge	Right hon. Sir Brian Kerr (Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland)	No salary received from NDPB
Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission	72.4	The provision of publicly funded legal services in Northern Ireland	Jim Daniel	A daily rate of £436 is payable together with travel expenses. No bonus is payable

Offenders: Curfews

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders sentenced to a curfew order or a community sentence with a curfew condition were unlawfully at large in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) category of offence, (b) contract region and (c) police force area; and what penalties were imposed on each contractor as a result. [165807]

Mr. Hanson: If an offender subject to a curfew order or community sentence with a curfew requirement breaches their conditions, they are not deemed to be unlawfully at large, and the breach is not an arrestable offence. In such cases either the contractor or the responsible criminal justice agency will undertake enforcement proceedings with the court, and a summons will be issued to the offender. In some cases the court may issue a community penalty breach warrant to enforce attendance at a breach hearing.

The contractors' performance is not measured according to the volume of curfew breaches recorded, as this is not within their control. They will incur financial penalties for failing to meet targets on 16 service levels relating to their monitoring operation. These are audited monthly by the Ministry of Justice.

Offenders: Drugs

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will make a statement on the use of naltrexone as a heroin antagonist for prisoners and those serving non-custodial sentences. [166169]

Mr. Hanson: Naltrexone is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a treatment option in detoxified formerly opioid-dependent people who are highly motivated to remain in an abstinence programme. For it to be effective, it should be given as part of a programme of supportive care.

This position is supported by Offender Health.

Offenders: Education

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget for education and training for offenders in prisons was in the last financial year; and what percentage this represents of the total prisons budget. [164886]

Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.

The Department for Education and Skills spent £96,133,384 on learning and skills delivery in public sector prisons in 2006-07. According to the 2006-07 HMPS Annual Report, the net operating cost of the Prison Service in that financial year was £1,936 million.

Offenders: Females

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on what date the Government intends to publish its response to the Corston Review. [166335]

Mr. Hanson: The Government have given a broad welcome to the report. The 43 recommendations which it makes are wide-ranging and propose action by a number of different Government Departments and organisations. We are carefully exploring the best way of taking forward the recommendations with all the departments and agencies concerned and hopefully we will be able to respond in a positive way before Christmas.

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Politics and Government

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated cost is of the regional event to promote the White Paper “The Governance of Britain” in Leicester on 10 December 2007. [166658]

Mr. Wills: We estimate that the event in Leicester on 10 December will cost in the region of £40,000. Final costs will be available once the event has been completed.

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which organisations have been engaged by his Department to provide services for regional events to promote the White Paper “The Governance of Britain”. [166660]

Mr. Wills: The Central Office of Information has been contracted to provide support in delivering the “Governance of Britain” event to be held in Leicester on 10 December.

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) date and (b) location is of each regional event arranged to promote the White Paper “The Governance of Britain”. [166661]

Mr. Wills: To date, only one event has been scheduled to engage people on the Governance of Britain Green Paper. This will take place in Leicester on 10 December. Further events will take place early in the new year.

Prison Officers Association

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with the Prison Officers Association about their recommendation to issue batons to prison officers, with particular reference to their issue in young offender institutions. [163635]

Maria Eagle: Following a visit to Ford open prison the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), wrote to the local Prison Officers Association branch chairman on 30 May 2007 announcing a review to examine whether there was firm evidence to support the carrying of batons in all areas of the prison estate that do not currently carry them. The national representatives of the POA were informed of the review in June 2007. More recently the review was discussed at a meeting between the POA and the Secretary of State for Justice on 30 October 2007. The Secretary of State has also discussed the issue with a number of local POA branches on recent visits to establishments.

Prison Officers: Dismissal

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the reasons were for the dismissals of each of the (a) prison officers, (b) senior officers and (c) principal officers from each of the Welsh prisons in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006 and (iii) 2007. [Official Report, 7 January 2008, Vol. 470, c. 1MC.] [166183]

Mr. Hanson: Information on the reasons for dismissal of each of the officers dismissed from Welsh prisons in 2005, 2006 and 2007 is shown in the list.
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Owing to the different grading structure in public sector and contracted prisons it is not possible to break down the information by grade.

2005

111 health (x3)

Failure to comply with operational procedures

Gross misconduct

Unacceptable attendance (x2)

Continued unacceptable attendance

Failure to disclose information

Failed probation period

2006

Committing criminal offence during employment

Expiry of retention period

Gross misconduct (sexual harassment claim)

Failure to notify company of arrest and subsequent charges

Assault on a prisoner

Conduct Case

2007

Poor attendance record

Failure to carry out roll count

Making untrue statements with intent on deceiving or defrauding the company

Failure to comply with operational procedures (x3)

Inappropriate and unprofessional conduct

Inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour towards a prisoner

Failed probation period

Prisoner Transfers: Greater London

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many companies tendered for the contracts awarded to Serco for the movement of prisoners in the Greater London area. [166077]

Maria Eagle: Two companies tendered for the London and South East area contract.

They were Securicor, now trading as G4S, and Premier, which changed its name to Serco in 2005 and was awarded the contract.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether more or fewer persons are provided by Serco for the movement of prisoners in the Greater London area than were engaged in such work prior to the inception of his Department's contract with Serco. [166193]

Maria Eagle: The previous generation of contracts covered different geographical areas and so no direct comparison is possible. Serco staff work across the geographical area of the contract.

Serco employed 1,215 staff in operational posts on this contract as at June 2007. Approximately 60 per cent. (729) were court-based; the rest were vehicle crews. Vehicle crews also perform some court duties to augment staff dedicated to court functions.

The level of staffing was agreed in detailed consultation with Her Majesty's Courts Service at the time of the contract specification by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

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