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14 Jan 2008 : Column 944W—continued
Departmental Pay
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2007, Official Report, columns 480-81W, on departmental pay, how many of those earning over £100,000 were employed (a) as special advisers and (b) in a political role in each year since 1997. [177181]
Maria Eagle: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the number of special advisers in each pay band. For the most recent information I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 November 2007, Official Report, 147-51WS.
Information on the numbers and costs of special advisers prior to 2003 was provided at regular intervals and this information will be available in the Library of the House.
Driving Offences: Convictions
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to enable motorists held responsible for the deaths of cyclists to be charged with the offence of manslaughter. [178979]
Maria Eagle: The offence of manslaughter (and culpable homicide in Scotland) is already available for bad driving offences that result in death, and would apply to the death of a cyclist in the same way as it would to other victims of road traffic incidents.
It is for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to decide on the appropriate charge in a particular case and their guidance makes it clear that a manslaughter charge might be appropriate where the driving was so bad, or the risk of death so great, that a prosecution for manslaughter must be brought.
Driving Offences: Hampshire
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) cautions and (b) prosecutions for mobile telephone use by (i) motorists and (ii) other road users there have been in each district and unitary council area in Hampshire in each of the last eight quarters for which records are available. [178200]
Maria Eagle: Available information from 2004 to 2005 (latest available) is provided in the following table. 2006 data will be available later this year.
Data are available at police force area level and by calendar year only.
| Written warnings( 1) , fixed penalty notices issued( 2) and court proceedings( 3) at the magistrates courts for the offence of use of hand held mobile phone while driving( 4) within Hampshire police force area, 2004-05 | |
| Number of offences | |
| (1) Includes formal cautions. (2) Covers tickets paid where there is no further action. (3) Includes cases where a fixed penalty notice was originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court. (4) Offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 110 (1), 110 (2) and 110 (3). Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. | |
Drugs: Sentencing
Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance the Government gives to courts on sentencing in first time class C drug possession cases. [178108]
Maria Eagle: Sentencing for possession of a class C drug is covered by the provisions of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which set a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment. Within that statutory maximum, it is open to the courts to use their discretion when sentencing in individual cases, subject to any extant guidelines from the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC). The Sentencing Guidelines Council—an independent statutory body—is responsible for issuing sentencing guidelines which criminal courts must take into account. Its draft magistrates courts sentencing guidelines, which are currently out for consultation, contain proposed guidelines for possession of a class C drug. The draft guidelines can be viewed at:
The definitive guidelines will be finalised and published later this year.
Environment Protection: Fixed Penalties
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 676W, on environment protection: fixed penalties, what the aggregate revenue was from the fines in each year since 1999-2000. [176843]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
The aggregate revenue from the fixed penalty notices is set out in the following table:
| Reporting Period | Aggregate Revenue (£) |
Data are not held centrally on revenue prior to April 2004.
Pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 676W, new data have been published on the number of fixed penalty notices issued by local authorities. From April 2006 to March 2007, 54,015 fixed penalty notices were issued, of which 33,255 were paid.
These data are also available on the Defra website.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 676W, on environment protection: fixed penalties, which legislation the fines in 2005-06 were issued under. [176844]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
The fixed penalty notices, to which the answer of 29 November 2007 refer, were issued under the following legislation:
section 88 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for litter offences;
section 4 of the Dogs (Fouling of Land Act) 1996 and section 59 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act for dogs-related offences;
section 43 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 for graffiti and fly-posting; and
section 8 of the Noise Act 1996 for noise.
A breakdown of the statistics collected by the Department on local authorities' use of fixed penalty notices is available on the Defra website.
HM Court Service
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the anticipated change in budget to 2010-11 is for HM Courts Service. [174331]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice recently agreed its CSR settlement with HM Treasury and as part of the CSR settlement, we are taking forward an ambitious value for money programme to enable the delivery of cash releasing savings of 3 per cent. per annum. We are in the process of working out the implications of this settlement to HM Courts Service and other business areas within the Ministry.
HM Courts Services 2008-09 allocations will be decided shortly.
Human Trafficking: Compensation
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women who had been trafficked into the UK have been awarded compensation under Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority guidelines; what the value was of such awards; from which countries those women were trafficked; whether he has made an estimate of any likely future payments; and if he will make a statement. [177916]
Maria Eagle: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme pays compensation to blameless victims of violent crime within Great Britain. Compensation is based on the criminal injury sustained not on the criminal act which caused the injury. Victims of trafficking do not therefore receive compensation under the scheme for the fact of being trafficked, but only if they were victims of a violent crime in Great Britain. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) does not record centrally how many award recipients were also victims of trafficking, since that information is not necessary for the purpose of determining claims. CICA are accordingly unable to supply the information requested.
Interpreters
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance is issued to court services on the provision of (a) sign language interpreters and (b) lip speakers for hearing-impaired people in the criminal justice system. [177212]
Maria Eagle: In January 2007 the Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR), in conjunction with Criminal Justice Agencies, published a revised National Agreement on Arrangements for the Use of Interpreters, Translators and Language Service Professionals in Investigations and Proceedings within the Criminal Justice System to help ensure that only suitably qualified interpreters and translators are used in criminal proceedings. Sign language and lip speakers fall in the category of interpreters known in the profession as LSPs (Language Service Professionals). In addition, a Good Practice Guide for HMCS staff on the use of interpreters in the criminal courts has been produced to supplement the new National Agreement. I have placed a copy of the National Agreement and the Good Practice Guide for HMCS staff in the Libraries of the House.
National Offender Management Information System
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much money from (a) his own Department and (b) other public sources has been spent on the NOMIS programme since it was initiated (i) in total and (ii) in each relevant financial year. [178312]
Mr. Hanson: The NOMIS programme has been fully funded by the Ministry of Justice since its formation and prior to that by the Home Office. The total expenditure to the end of December 2007 is estimated at £179 million, of which £56 million was expensed in 2005-06 (including a small proportion incurred in earlier years), £69 million in 2006-07 and £54 million in the first nine months of this financial year. The total spend to date of £155 million previously advised was up until the end of July 2007.
Prison NOMIS will continue the roll-out of C-NOMIS, with a version that builds on the one currently running successfully in three prisons, preserving the financial and business benefit from work completed to date.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the strategic review of the NOMIS programme cost his Department between the date of its announcement in August 2007 and 7 January 2008. [178313]
Mr. Hanson: Strategic review of the NOMIS programme was conducted using already existing project and business resource, the bulk of whom were Crown and civil servants and were available as a result of the moratorium placed on further development of the NOMIS application. Some additional expenditure was employed on a few days of consultancy time to ensure external assurance of some elements of the review.
The NOMIS programme will be in budget for the financial year 2007-08.
Offenders: Foreigners
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many (a) foreign nationals and (b) non-EU foreign nationals convicted of an offence in the UK had (i) a previous conviction in the UK, (ii) a previous conviction in the UK resulting in a custodial sentence, (iii) more than one previous conviction in the UK and (iv) more than one previous conviction in the UK resulting in a custodial sentence in each year since 1997; [177404]
(2) how many (a) foreign nationals and (b) non-EU foreign nationals convicted of an offence or offences in the UK resulting in a custodial sentence had (i) a previous conviction in the UK, (ii) a previous conviction in the UK resulting in a custodial sentence, (iii) more than one previous conviction in the UK and (iv) more than one previous conviction in the UK resulting in a custodial sentence in each year since 1997. [177405]
Mr. Hanson: The requested information is not available.
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many non-UK prisoners of each sex who were returned to serve their sentences in their home countries were serving custodial sentences of (a) 12 months or more, (b) two years or more and (c) four years or more in the last year for which figures are available; and what these figures are as a proportion of (i) foreign prisoners and (ii) foreign prisoners returned to their home countries. [177455]
Mr. Hanson: The final figure for the number of foreign national prisoners who were deported or removed from the UK in 2007 has not yet been finalised. However, in December it was reported that 4,000 foreign national prisoners have been removed or deported from the UK. In addition 111 foreign national prisoners were repatriated to their home countries in 2007 to continue serving their sentences there. Of these, 81 male and 25 female prisoners were serving sentences of four years or more and four male and one female prisoners were serving sentences of two years or more but less than four years. No prisoners serving sentences of less than two years were repatriated in 2007.
As at 30 September 2007, the number of foreign national prisoners held in England and Wales was 11,211.
Peterborough Prison: Drugs
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the failure rate was for mandatory drug
testing at HMP Peterborough in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [178239]
Mr. Hanson: The latest random mandatory drug testing positive rates for HMP Peterborough are set out in the following table:
| Percentage | ||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08( 1) | |
| (1) Financial year to date (April to November 2007). | ||
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Southend, West of 12 December 2007, Official Report, columns 594-96W, on the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, what the penalty given to each individual found guilty of an offence under the Act was in (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. [177698]
Mr. Straw: Data on the penalties given for offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 are shown for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the following table.
| Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, including penalties given, in England and Wales, 2000 to 2006, broken down by sex( 1) , year and police force area( 2) | ||||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | ||||||
| Greater Manchester | Sussex | Metropolitan Police | Leicestershire | Staffordshire | Metropolitan Police | West Midlands | Metropolitan Police | |
| (1) All defendants found guilty were male. (2 )Please see the footnotes to the original PQ (172425) found in Hansard on 12 December 2007, Official Report, column 594W. (3) There were no triable either way offences in 2005. | ||||||||
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