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27 Nov 2007 : Column 302W—continued
Law: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he is taking steps to encourage the development of a distinct Welsh legal system. [168631]
Mr. Wills: The Government are committed to enhancing the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales through transferring powers by either framework powers in Westminster Bills or through Orders in Council as provided for in the Government of Wales Act 2006. But increasing the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales will not establish a separate Welsh legal system.
Mayors’ Community Payback Scheme
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many local authorities have participated in the Mayors’ Community Payback Scheme. [167554]
Mr. Hanson: We do not collect this information centrally but telephone inquiries indicate that of the 42 probation areas in England and Wales 36 have established Mayors’ Community Payback work projects and a total of 63 projects sponsored by mayors are planned, under way or completed. The Mayors’ Community Payback Scheme was launched this year to promote public awareness of the significant amount of unpaid work done by offenders on community sentences that benefits local communities and makes reparation for offenders’ crimes.
Office of the Information Commissioner: Finance
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what budget was allocated to the Office of the Information Commissioner for (a) the 2007-08 financial year and (b) each of the preceding two financial years. [167983]
Mr. Wills: The grant in aid allocated to the Information Commissioner's Office for each of the last three financial years has been as follows:
| £ | |
The grant is paid to cover only the Commissioner's freedom of information responsibilities. His data protection work is currently funded by notification fees
paid by data controllers under section 26 of the Data Protection Act 1998, which his office retains with the agreement of HM Treasury. In 2006-07, this was £10,200,000.
Penalty Notices
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what terms of reference have been established for the review of penalty notices for disorder; and when this review is expected to conclude. [167551]
Maria Eagle: Work is currently under way to identify opportunities, processes and best practice to improve the payment of penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), and subsequently when they are not paid, and registered as fines, the payment of those fines. This work is expected to conclude in spring 2008.
A review of practice across police forces for PNDs was carried out by OCJR. This was published in March 2006 and is available at:
The purpose of the review was to establish best practice in the use of PNDs and to develop consistency, better management and control of the PND scheme.
Police: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answers of 12 November 2007, Official Report, column 30W, on police: Wales, and 21 November 2007, Official Report, columns 975-6W, on prison officers: dismissal, for what reason the number of dismissals in the first answer differs from the number of reasons for dismissals in the second answer for the years 2005 and 2007. [168795]
Mr. Hanson: The discrepancy in the number of dismissals reported in the answer of 12 November and the number of dismissals for which reasons were given in the answer of 21 November was due to a difference between the local and central records held at Her Majesty's prison and young offenders institution Parc. The correct figures were those given in the answer of 12 November. I will write to the hon. Member shortly.
Prisoners: Food
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average daily cost to the public purse was of food for each prisoner in the most recent period for which figures are available. [168206]
Mr. Hanson: For 2006-07, the last full financial year for which figures are available, the average public sector Prison Service daily food cost per prisoner was £1.97.
Prisoners: Sentencing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have completed their tariff and remain in prison. [167617]
Mr. Hanson: Complete information on the total numbers of all life and other indeterminate sentence prisoners held in custody beyond their tariff period is not currently available centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However within the Public Protection Unit of the National Offender Management Service, the Pre-Release Section (PRS) maintains a limited database on those offenders sentenced to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP). This indicates that, as at 31 October 2007, 428 such offenders were being held in prison beyond their tariff expiry date.
A new database for the whole of the Public Protection Unit is currently in development. The new database will allow, among other things, information to be recorded accurately relating to the tariff, Parole Board reviews and release of all life and indeterminate sentence prisoners. This new database is not likely to be fully operational until the early part of next year as it will be necessary to migrate core information and fully test the system before it goes live.
Probation Officers: Chelmsford
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many full or part-time probation officers there were in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years. [167891]
Maria Eagle: Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to April 2003 were collected by Home Office RDS unit and were not broken down into probation areas. The following table shows full-time equivalent (FTE) figures as at 31 December for each year and relates to Essex probation area in its entirety as information is not collected for districts within probation areas.
The reporting mechanism used within the service means that it is not possible at probation area level to extract numbers pertaining to specific staff groups. The information is broken down as operational and support staff between 2003 and 2005. In addition, in 2006, the Offender Management model was adopted across the National Probation Service and the collection of work force information was modified to reflect this change. Consequently, the information is not directly comparable with previous years.
| Staff in post in Essex probation area 2003 - 06 | ||||
| Job group | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
Reoffenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of offenders sentenced to custody had already served (a) a custodial sentence and (b) a community sentence in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [168501]
Mr. Hanson: Information on offenders’ previous sentences does not form part of our standard analysis of criminal histories. The most recent available figures for the previous criminal history of offenders sentenced to custody for indictable offences, which detail number of previous convictions and cautions, are given in the “Sentencing Statistics 2005” publication which is available in the House of Commons Library and can be found online at:
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of recorded crimes committed were committed by offenders who had previously served (a) a prison sentence and (b) a community sentence in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [168502]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is not available as a suspect is not identified for every crime committed. The most relevant available data relate to those sentenced for indictable offences. There are tables published in “Sentencing Statistics 2005” which detail numbers of previous convictions and cautions of those sentenced but do not show what disposals were given for the previous convictions. The publication is available in the House of Commons Library and can be found online at;
Reviews
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish the Ministry of Justice review. [168499]
Mr. Straw:
The review is continuing. As I told the then Constitutional Affairs Select Committee in oral
evidence on 9 October 2007, I will inform Parliament of the findings when the work of the review is complete.
Simple Speedy Summary Justice Scheme
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the estimated cost of savings for the Simple Speedy Summary Justice scheme is. [167564]
Maria Eagle: CJSSS is primarily about making the criminal justice system more efficient by reducing unnecessary hearings and the time taken to deal with cases in the magistrates courts. Improving the speed and effectiveness of magistrates courts could produce net discounted benefits for the criminal justice system worth approximately £137.4 million over 10 years.
Defence
Armed Forces
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of serving military personnel in (a) the Army, (b) the Royal Navy and (c) the Royal Air Force were (i) single, (ii) married without children, (iii) married with children, (iv) divorced without children and (v) divorced with children at the latest date for which figures are available. [165792]
Derek Twigg: The following tables show the number and percentage of UK regular forces in each service who were single, married and divorced at the latest date for which figures are available.
Figures relating to dependent children are available only for Army Other Ranks.
Due to the way marital status was recorded in personnel databases, Naval service figures for married personnel do not include those married personnel not in receipt of a married person's allowance, while single and divorced personnel cannot be shown separately.
Figures are shown at the latest date prior to the introduction of the new Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system for each service. Information relating to marital status is no longer held centrally, following the phased implementation of the JPA system.
| Naval Service( 1) at 1 October 2006 | ||||||
| Total | Percentage | Officers | Percentage | Other Ranks | Percentage | |
| (1) Naval Service includes Royal Navy and Royal Marines Army at 1 March 2007. | ||||||
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