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15 Jan 2008 : Column 1208W—continued
| Table 2: To non-EU states | |||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
Offensive Weapons: Sentencing
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people were given a (a) custodial sentence and (b) fine or conviction for the offence of carrying and using a knife in a violent attack in 2007; [178051]
(2) how many people were given a (a) custodial sentence and (b) fine or conviction for the offence of carrying a knife in 2007. [178052]
Mr. Hanson: There are no specific offences for:
carrying and using a knife in a violent attack
carrying a knife in a violent attack.
For offences of wounding it is not possible to tell if a knife was used without going through court records. This would incur disproportionate costs to answering this question.
Political Levy
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the performance of trade unions on payment of individual affiliation fees for those members of the union that are also members of the Labour Party. [175994]
Mr. Straw: I have made no such assessment. The responsibility for determining complaints from union members about trade unions in their application of funds for political objects is principally a matter for the Certification Officer, (for which the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is responsible) and the Electoral Commission. I am aware that in the period over the last 10 years, the Certification Officer had received just 10 complaints in respect of trade union political funds, of which two have been upheld, and that the Electoral Commission have reported having received no complaints in this regard since their establishment.
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 sentencing guidelines have been produced in relation to offences under the Act. [177699]
Mr. Straw: Sentencing guidelines are issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council, a non-departmental public body.
The council has informed us that no sentencing guidelines have been issued in relation to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA).
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the net impact on demand for prison places of remitting prison sentences in respect of time spent on remand on electronically monitored curfew (a) before and (b) after conviction in respect of offences committed on or after 4 April 2005. [179350]
Mr. Hanson: Remitting prison sentences in respect of time spent on remand on electronically monitored curfew as proposed in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will result in an estimated saving of 200 prison places. The impact will be after conviction as remand time will be deducted from any prison sentence imposed.
Prisoners
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) non-UK citizens and (b) non-UK citizens without leave to remain in the UK were sentenced to custodial sentences in each year since 1997; what proportion of the prison population serving sentences fell into each of those categories in the same period; and what estimate he has made of the cost of detaining prisoners in each category in each of those years. [177457]
Mr. Hanson: The following table gives the numbers of foreign national prisoners received into all prison establishments in England and Wales under immediate custodial sentence between 1997 and 2006 showing their proportion against all receptions:
| Immediate custodial sentenced receptions into prison establishments in England and Wales by nationality 1997-2006 | |||||
| All nationalities | British nationals | Foreign nationals | Unrecorded nationality | Foreign national receptions (percentage) | |
This information is derived from table 7.5 of the supplementary tables of the recently published Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2006, a copy of which will be placed in the House of Commons Library and which is available at the following website:
The following table gives the numbers of sentenced foreign national prisoners held in all prisons in England and Wales over the same period, ie the population by category at each year specified:
| Sentenced population in prison establishments in England and Wales by whether foreign national 1997-2006 (as at June each year) | ||||
| All | British | Foreign nationals | Foreign national sentenced population (percentage) | |
Comparable information for Scotland and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
This information is derived from tables 6.4 and 6.5 in Prison Statistics in England and Wales for years 1997-2002 and from table 8.29 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics for the years 2003-06. Website versions of these tables can be found at:
for 2006. Paper copies of these publications can be found in the House of Commons Library.
Information relating to immigration status is not centrally available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
There are no separate estimates of the cost of detaining prisoners according to whether UK or foreign national. The average cost per prisoner in 2006-07 was approximately £37,500, taking account of all establishment types.
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