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1 Feb 2008 : Column 721W—continued
International Assistance
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made towards achieving Millennium Development Goal number 2; and what steps he plans to take to encourage further progress. [183836]
Gillian Merron: Global enrolment in primary education has increased from 647 million in 1999 to 688 million in 2005.
In April 2006, the UK Government committed £8.5 billion over 10 years to help achieve the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The bulk of this support will help poor countries in Africa and Asia to develop and implement long-term education sector plans to achieve the education MDGs. At the 2007 G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, the G8 countries reaffirmed that no country seriously committed to Education for All will be thwarted in their achievement of this goal by lack of resources. We will continue to urge our G8 partners and other donors to meet their promises on education, and also seek accelerated action to meet all of the MDGs through the MDG Call to Action, jointly launched last July by the Prime Minister and the United Nations Secretary-General.
Mozambique: Money
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what currency transactions over the value of £25,000 have been made by his Department where pounds sterling were changed into local currency in Mozambique in the last six months. [178632]
Gillian Merron: The following sterling amounts were changed into Mozambican Meticais over the period 1 August 2007 to 31 January 2008:
| Date | Value (£) |
Tuvalu: Floods
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what account he has taken of evidence that possible inundation of the Pacific island of Tuvalu may be caused by (a) rising sea level and (b) sinking of the earth’s crust in allocating UK aid to that area. [178734]
Mr. Malik: DFID has not had a bilateral aid programme in the Pacific since 2001. The UK provides assistance to the region through the European Commission’s European Development Fund (EDF). €5 million has been earmarked for Tuvalu under the 10(th) EDF, which is due to begin this year and end in 2013. The UK’s share of the 10th EDF is 14.82 per cent. The European Commission recognises climate change is an important cross-cutting issue for the small islands of the Pacific region, and major regional initiatives to address it are being considered in the context of the 10(th) EDF.
Uganda: Money
Mr. Scott:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what currency transactions over the value of £25,000 have been made by his Department where pounds sterling were changed into
local currency in Uganda in the last six months. [178630]
Gillian Merron: Over the past six months the DFID Uganda office has made four transactions above the value of £25,000 where money, received in Uganda in US dollars from the Department’s headquarters in the UK, was converted to Uganda shillings in-country.
| US dollars ($) transformed to shillings | Equivalent in £ | Exchange rate ($ to shs.) | Commission( 1) | |
| (1) DFID Uganda has negotiated with its bankers not to charge commission on any of its transactions as we do not receive interest from the money in its accounts. | ||||
Justice
Christmas
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department's agencies spent on (a) Christmas cards and (b) postage of Christmas cards in each year since 1997. [182441]
Maria Eagle: 2007 was the first year that an MOJ Christmas card had been produced by our print room. Pursuant to PQ 176917, 7 January 2008, Official Report, columns 136-37W, and PQ 171443, 10 December 2007, Official Report, columns 176-77W, 6,000 had been ordered at a cost of 34p each, totalling £2,040. These cards were not centrally funded, and each business area covered the costs of the cards they ordered from their stationery budgets.
Prior to 2007, cards were not centrally ordered or produced. The expenditure is not separately identifiable within the Department’s accounts and may be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
It is not possible to ascertain the specific postage costs relating to these Christmas cards, as all postage is accounted for as a whole, rather than broken down into separate components.
The Department has a general policy where all post is sent out second class unless it is stated otherwise.
Harassment Act 1997
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 January 2008, Official Report, column 2202W, on the Harassment Act 1997, how many prosecutions were brought by (a) local authorities against individuals and (b) individuals against local authorities in each year since the Act entered into force. [183919]
Maria Eagle: I will respond to the hon. Gentleman as soon as possible.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire dated 7 December 2007 on the policy on criminal appeals. [183429]
Maria Eagle: I wrote to the hon. Member on 31 January 2008. I apologise for the delay.
Offensive Weapons: Bail
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has issued guidance on the granting of bail to a person charged with possessing a knife in a public place. [182742]
Maria Eagle: Whether to grant bail or not is and must remain a decision for the courts to make within the statutory framework provided by Parliament in the Bail Act 1976, taking account of relevant case-law. It is the responsibility of the Government to keep the statutory framework under careful review, bringing proposals for change to Parliament as necessary. We are currently looking at the implications for bail law and procedure of the recent cases involving the offence of murder. If changes are needed we shall make them.
Prison Service: Drugs
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many (a) prison officers and (b) prison visitors have been prosecuted for bringing drugs into prison in each of the last five years; how many of those prosecutions have resulted in a conviction; and what the average length was of sentence on conviction; [183869]
(2) how many people have been prosecuted under the Offender Management Act 2007 for bringing (a) mobile telephones and (b) alcohol into prisons. [183870]
Maria Eagle: Under current statutes, there are no specific offences covering prison officers and prison visitors bringing drugs into prisons. Offences by this group of people would currently be prosecuted under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Information held by my Department does not identify the circumstances in which offences against the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 were prosecuted.
Specific offences covering “Conveyance of prohibited articles into or out of prison” including drugs will come into force in April 2008 as part of the Offender Management Act 2007. The new Act also makes the conveyance of mobile phones into prisons an offence for the first time and maintains the existing offence relating to conveyance of alcohol.
Prisoner Escapes
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many inmates (a) escaped and (b) absconded from each open prison in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [183010]
Maria Eagle: The number of incidents of prisoners absconding or escaping from prisons which have, or had in the past, an open element is shown in the table below for the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007.
Prisoners are classed as ‘absconders’ if they absent themselves from Prison Service custody without lawful authority and without overcoming physical security restraints such as that provided by fences, locks, bolts and bars, a secure vehicle or handcuffs. Escapes involve circumstances where physical security restraints have been overcome.
Most absconds are from open or semi-open prisons. Those prisons which are fully open, semi-open or have an open element are shown in the tables including some cases where prisons have re-rolled and no longer have an open element. It is possible for a prisoner to escape
from an open prison. For example, an incident involving a prisoner who was been held in segregation within an open prison and who then managed to break out and leave the prison would be regarded as an escape rather than an abscond.
Data on escapes and absconds and other performance data are published for all prisons at the following link:
| Escapes from open prisons 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007 | ||
| Latchmere House | Thorn Cross | |
| Absconds from open prisons 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007 | ||||||||||
| Establishment | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
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