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21 Nov 2007 : Column 976W—continued


21 Nov 2007 : Column 977W

Contractors are incentivised to staff according to the needs of the court's business, and are not paid when court rooms are not staffed.

A performance penalty is applied when court rooms are not staffed but should have been, and were contracted to be staffed.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many persons are employed by the contractor Serco to deal with movement of prisoners in cases involving (a) the magistrates courts and (b) the Crown courts in the Greater London area. [166194]

Maria Eagle: Serco utilises its staff throughout its contract area, which covers London and the south- east. The number of staff dealing with the movement of prisoners to magistrates and Crown courts in the Greater London area is therefore variable, depending on which courts are sitting and the number of cases listed for appearance.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the annual cost of his Department’s contract with Serco has been for the movement of prisoners in the Greater London area in each year since its inception. [166195]

Maria Eagle: The Greater London area is included as part of a wider geographical contract for the London and South East area and financial data is not routinely recorded to show what was spent moving prisoners within the Greater London area. Additionally, the provisions of the contract include services other than transportation of prisoners.

Details of the cost of the full service in London and South East are only available on a full year’s basis from 1 April 2005.

£ million

2005-06

46.4

2006-07

56.8

1 April 2007 to 20 October 2007

31.9


Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements there are for faith and
21 Nov 2007 : Column 978W
ethnicity monitoring among prisoners who are victims of assault. [165996]

Maria Eagle: The Prison Service Local Inmate Database System (LIDS) and its planned replacement C-NOMIS allow recording of both the religion and ethnicity of prisoners. The Incident Reporting System (IRS), used for recording assaults, routinely incorporates ethnicity information of any prisoners involved whether as assailants, fighters or victims. IRS does not routinely include religion of prisoners, but there are sampling techniques of that typically capture more than 70 per cent. of prisoner involvements to analyse faith aspects of assaults when required.

Prisons: Education

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to ensure that reductions in the prisons budget do not affect the level of education provision in prisons; and if he will make a statement. [165834]

Maria Eagle: The budget for education provision in prisons is held by the Learning and Skills Council and is not affected by reductions in the Prison Service budget. The Prison Service is aware of the need to ensure that the delivery of programmes for offenders to help reduce reoffending, including vocational skills for employment and other prison regimes associated with delivery of learning, is fully considered when operational savings are reviewed in the light of reduced prison funding.

Prosecutions: Driving Offences

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions there have been of uninsured drivers (a) in total and (b) in each police force area in each of the last 10 years; and what the average penalty was. [165682]

Maria Eagle: Available information from 1997 to 2005 (latest available) is provided in the following tables. 2006 data will be available next year.


21 Nov 2007 : Column 979W

21 Nov 2007 : Column 980W
Proceedings at magistrates courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) , and average fine imposed( 2) by police force area, England and Wales, 1997 to 2005
1997 1998 1999
Police force area Proceedings Average fine (£) Proceedings Average fine (£) Proceedings Average fine (£)

Avon and Somerset

15,354

259

16,892

204

15,098

165

Bedfordshire

4,724

314

4,449

293

3,479

274

Cambridgeshire

3,440

221

3,425

209

3,058

215

Cheshire

4,838

274

4,961

248

5,463

237

Cleveland

3,925

162

4,204

167

4,331

170

Cumbria

4,223

150

3,787

171

3,597

220

Derbyshire

5,565

270

5,137

279

5,120

283

Devon and Cornwall

8,422

184

7,232

185

7,493

178

Dorset

5,271

295

4,198

302

4,776

301

Durham

3,992

181

4,261

177

5,899

194

Essex

7,161

174

7,025

149

7,336

140

Gloucestershire

3,577

154

4,465

202

4,443

247

Greater Manchester

30,655

245

30,836

226

33,228

236

Hampshire

11,768

132

11,557

135

11,553

138

Hertfordshire

4,580

193

5,799

164

4,748

173

Humberside

4,408

159

4,279

148

4,894

143

Kent

6,935

246

6,958

241

6,151

227

Lancashire

20,334

332

18,794

296

18,111

237

Leicestershire

9,706

318

9,481

318

11,054

276

Lincolnshire

4,589

159

5,000

197

5,345

209

London, City of

2,671

332

3,127

314

2,521

346

Merseyside

10,896

200

9,747

203

8,932

200

Metropolitan Police

42,283

202

35,064

185

31,285

184

Norfolk

3,932

242

3,434

256

3,468

265

Northamptonshire

4,999

243

4,849

286

5,571

310

Northumbria

12,470

136

11,837

146

13,296

148

North Yorkshire

3,926

249

3,744

236

4,003

230

Nottinghamshire

8,078

164

8,726

165

7,957

153

South Yorkshire

11,228

194

11,553

206

11,763

191

Staffordshire

8,180

251

8,210

228

8,021

234

Suffolk

3,258

193

3,743

192

4,189

192

Surrey

4,942

243

3,908

242

4,436

215

Sussex

9,333

218

8,202

186

7,415

181

Thames Valley

11,887

292

11,948

257

13,543

268

Warwickshire

4,316

228

3,769

175

3,523

177

West Mercia

7,082

268

8,207

282

7,450

282

West Midlands

29,878

207

30,928

190

27,409

189

West Yorkshire

23,980

255

23,549

242

25,776

242

Wiltshire

3,463

152

4,820

182

4,708

186

Dyfed-Powys

3,079

183

2,852

182

3,017

175

Gwent

4,097

253

4,478

225

4,451

225

North Wales

4,859

210

4,452

226

4,102

272

South Wales

14,829

190

16,187

180

15,406

183

England and Wales

397,133

224

390,074

214

387,419

212


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