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3 Dec 2007 : Column 868W—continued
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been released from prison early by mistake over the last five years; how early the release was in each case; and of what offences each prisoner had been convicted. [169601]
Mr. Hanson: The available information is as follows:
It is a mandatory requirement that prisons check the correctness of the calculation of a prisoner’s release date 14 days and two days before release. At this point a check is also made to ensure that there is no other reason a prisoner should be detained in custody such as if they are remanded to custody on further charges or held on immigration matters. Additionally re-calculations and checks are also carried out during the course of the sentence, should a prisoner be transferred from one establishment to another. Prison Service Order 6650 provides details of the sentence calculation checks required.
The numbers of known releases in error are reported to the National Operations Unit in Her Majesty’s Prison Service by establishments. During 2005, there were 32 known releases in error reported to the National Operations Unit; during, 2006 there were 36; and during 2007, up to 28 November, there were 28.
Information on how early the release was in each case and the details of the offences is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Prisoners: Education
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what basic skills education and training courses are (a) available and (b) planned for prisoners at HMP Peterborough; and if he will make a statement. [169564]
Mr. Hanson: Details of basic skills education and training courses currently available at HMP Peterborough are outlined in the table.
The Education Department and workshops at HMP Peterborough are working closely with the Open College Network to deliver new accredited courses in 2008 in such areas as horticulture, beauty therapy, personnel development, catering, construction and hairdressing. The intention is to deliver more of the basic skills training in workshops rather than through classroom delivery. These vocational courses will help to increase the chances of prisoners securing employment on release.
Prisons: Manpower
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in what circumstances a prison governor may call off-duty prison officers back into work. [169995]
Maria Eagle: A prison governor may call off-duty officers back into work in response to an operational emergency, if there is a need to ensure minimum staffing levels are maintained or due to unavoidable or unforeseen operational reasons such as a delay in returning from outside the prison.
Sentencing
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of offenders sentenced in 2006 to (a) imprisonment for public protection sentences, (b) determinate sentences of over four years and (c) determinate sentences of between one and four years, (i) were first time offenders, (ii) had between one and four previous convictions, (iii) had between five and nine previous offences and (iv) had 10 or more previous offences. [170152]
Mr. Hanson: We currently do not have data on offenders discharged from prison for 2006 by previous offending patterns. The latest data available are from first quarter of 2004.
We also do not have data for the requested data splits of (i) 0, (ii) 1-4, (iii) 5- 9 and (iv) 10 plus, instead we can provide the following data splits: 0, 1-2, 3-6, 7-10 and 11 plus.
The following table show the percentage of offenders discharged from prison in 2004 and the respective number of previous offences:
| Number of previous offences | Percentage sentenced in first quarter of 2004 |
Data for 2005 cohort will be available by spring 2008, and data on 2006 will be available by summer 2008.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were sentenced to (a) indeterminate sentences with a tariff of under 24 months and (b) determinate sentences of over four years for (i) rape, (ii) attempted rape, (iii) sexual assault, (iv) other sexual offences, (v) grievous bodily harm and (vi) manslaughter in the last year for which figures are available. [170153]
Mr. Hanson: All the information relates to 2005, the last year for which data were available.
Data for the number of offenders serving an indeterminate sentence with a tariff of under 24 months are not available for 2005.
In 2005 the number of offenders serving a determinate sentence of four years and over for the offences specified is given as follows:
| Number | |
These figures include those persons sentenced to life and indeterminate sentences for public protection.
Young Offenders: Drugs
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of young people supervised under the auspices of the Youth Offending Teams who habitually use cannabis; and if he will make a statement. [169481]
Mr. Hanson: Data are not collected centrally on the number of young people subject to YOT supervision who habitually use cannabis, so no estimate has been made.
The YJB do collect data on the number of young people identified as requiring general substance misuse assessment and accessing early intervention and treatment services. These figures are set out in the following tables and will include young people identified as being users of cannabis.
| Table 1: Young offenders reported as ‘requiring’ assessment, early intervention and treatment across England and Wales for the years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 | |||
| Requiring assessment | Requiring early intervention (tier 2) | Requiring specialist treatment (tier 3 and 4) | |
| Table 2 : Young offenders reported as ‘ receiving ’ assessment within 10 days of screening, and receiving an intervention within 20 days of screening | |||
| Receiving assessment | Receiving early intervention (tier 2) | Receiving specialist treatment (tier 3 and 4) | |
| Note: Tiers 2, 3 and 4 refer to levels of service required for substance misuse issues of low, medium or high severity. | |||
Young Offenders: Injuries
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what injuries were incurred by girls held in (a) Brockhill, (b) Bullwood Hall and (c) Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution following use of control and restraint in each month in (i) 2006 and (ii) 2007. [167801]
Maria Eagle: The Prison Service definition of ‘girls’ in the context of prisoners is those aged 15-17. Brockhill held no such prisoners during 2006-07. At Bullwood Hall one girl sustained an injury during use of force in January 2006 which was recorded as “small red marks on upper arm”. At Cookham Wood one girl sustained an injury in December 2006 and one in March 2007 recorded as “bruised wrist” and “bang to the head”, respectively.
Communities and Local Government
Alcohol: Sales
James Brokenshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many (a) public houses, (b) restaurants and (c) supermarkets,
shops and other licensed retail outlets were caught by trading standards officers selling alcohol to persons under the aged of 18 years in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by local authority; [168700]
(2) how many visits were undertaken by or on behalf of trading standards officers to (a) public houses, (b) restaurants and (c) supermarkets, shops and other licensed outlets to check compliance with the terms of licences in connection with the sale of alcohol. [168701]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
This information is not centrally held, however, records of visits and prosecutions may be kept locally.
Visits by Trading Standards officers to licensed premises will not necessarily be solely in relation to Licensing Act 2003. For example they may also visit on grounds relating to weights and measures legislation or trade descriptions legislation.
Bellwin Scheme
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many authorities have received 100 per cent. of eligible costs incurred due to the July flooding under the Bellwin scheme; [166228]
(2) what the largest amount of money paid out under the Bellwin scheme to a local authority that incurred costs in the July flooding is; [166227]
(3) how much financial compensation local authorities affected by flooding in July have requested under the Bellwin scheme; [166226]
(4) how much funding she estimates will be provided to local authorities under the Bellwin scheme in 2007; [166223]
(5) how many local authorities affected by flooding in July 2007 have applied for funding through the Bellwin scheme; [166222]
(6) how much funding has been provided to local councils under the Bellwin scheme in response to the effects of the July 2007 floods. [166221]
John Healey: No local authorities have yet applied for funding through the Bellwin scheme for the flooding in July 2007 but 52 authorities have registered an intention to do so. We stand ready to make payments within 15 working days of receiving valid claims which will, exceptionally, be at 100 per cent. of eligible costs above threshold.
I recently wrote to all registered authorities to remind them that we will also pay interim claims of up to 80 per cent. of incurred expenditure straight away. As yet, no claims—interim or final—have been made.
Information is still being collected from local authorities to enable an estimate of the total funding that will be provided under the Bellwin scheme in 2007.
Crime Prevention
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the terms of reference are of the cross-departmental review on how best to engage communities in the fight against crime; and when the findings of this review are expected to be published. [167122]
Edward Miliband: I have been asked to reply.
‘Engaging communities in fighting crime' is a policy review that aims to understand how local communities, the police, the local criminal justice agencies and other local partners can best work together to:
reduce crime in their areas,
raise community confidence in local agencies,
lower the fear of crime.
The full terms of reference are as follows:
A key strand of the review will analyse how to engage individuals, including young people, across the whole range of issues that affect their feelings of safety in the community.
The review will make recommendations on improving local accountability, increasing local engagement (including willingness to support law enforcement through the provision of evidence) and developing new approaches to problem solving.
The review shall take full account of the Ten Year Youth Strategy, the work already under way as part of Sir Ronnie Flanagan's review of policing, the current roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing and work of the National Policing Improvement Agency in this area, and shall examine how best to build on the success of Neighbourhood Policing and transfer good practice across all crime fighting agencies including local authority, the Third Sector etc.
The review team will be drawn from all Departments with an interest and led from the Cabinet Office by Louise Casey.
The review will report by June 2008.
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