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1 Feb 2008 : Column 729W—continued
Prisons: Employment
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the (a) trend in the number of hours of purposeful prisoner activity since April 2007 and (b) likely trend from April 2008; what his policy is on purposeful activity; what measures are in place to monitor the (i) provision of opportunities for and (ii) the quantity of purposeful activity in prisons; and whether such activity is a key performance indicator. [178761]
Maria Eagle: During the financial year to December, prisons have reported an average of 25.1 hours of purposeful activity per prisoner per week.
From April 2008 a new core day will be introduced and the expectation is that resources will be realigned to maximise availability of work and education.
Provision of purposeful activity opportunities are set at local level and are based on a combination of prisoner need and prisoner status on the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme (IEP) and prison establishment facilities.
Each establishment is set a Key Performance Target (KPT) for purposeful activity. A monitoring system is in place to obtain data on regime activity in each establishment.
Purposeful activity is no longer a Key Performance Indicator but remains an establishment Key Performance Target.
Prisons: Shipping
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to acquire prison ships; how much he has allocated to that purpose; what the timetable is for such provision becoming operational; and how many prison places they will provide. [178767]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice will launch a competition for a prison ship. The current prison building programme, implementing the recommendations published by Lord Carter of Coles on 5 December 2007, assumes that a facility providing over 400 places will be available in late 2009.
Redditch Prison
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the effect on costs of the creation of HMP Redditch, broken down by (a) staffing and (b) other elements. [178758]
Mr. Hanson: As I announced to the House on 29 January, consultation on the name of the planned merger has been extended to 1 March 2008. Any further comments on wider issues would be welcome.
Following the outcome of the consultation it will be possible to calculate the cost of the exercise. It is expected that the merger will generate cost reductions of £650,000 in 2008-09 and £860,000 in 2009-10, while improving efficiency and effectiveness.
Reoffenders: Costs
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of re-offending in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [178766]
Mr. Hanson: There are currently no estimates of the overall costs to the economy due to re-offending for each of the last 10 years. However, in 2002 the Government’s Social Exclusion Unit estimated the costs of crime committed by ex-prisoners to be around £11 billion.
Royal Mail: Compensation
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1765W, how often Royal Mail paid compensation in such cases in each of the last three years. [178803]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally. Each fixed penalty office will encourage the owner of the lost licence to claim the cost of replacement from the Royal Mail. As the compensation cheque is mostly sent to the claimant there is no way of knowing the success rate of the claims.
Prime Minister
Departmental ICT
Susan Kramer: To ask the Prime Minister how many (a) male and (b) female members of staff of his Office were issued with personal digital assistants in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [181364]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 31 January 2008, Official Report, column 502W.
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Prime Minister how many external contracts his Office held with public relations companies in each of the last 10 years; and what the total cost of those contracts was. [183196]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Watson) on 31 January 2008, Official Report, column 502W.
Treasury
Alcoholic Drinks: Death
Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many alcohol-related deaths there were in (a) the East of England and (b) Suffolk in each of the last five years. [178897]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 1 February 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many alcohol-related deaths there have been in (a) the East of England and (b) Suffolk in each of the last five years. (178897)
The table attached provides the number of deaths with an alcohol-related underlying cause in (a) the East of England government office region, and (b) Suffolk county from 2002 to 2006 (the latest year available).
| Box 1: alcohol-related causes of death—International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) | |
| Cause of death | ICD-10 code(s) |
Departmental Accountancy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what items of his Department’s (a) revenue and (b) expenditure are uprated using (i) the consumer prices index, (ii) the retail prices index and (iii) other measures of inflation. [179943]
Angela Eagle: The Treasury uses the retail prices index to uprate the payments in respect of the service element of the PFI contract on the 1 Horse Guards road building.
Ethnic Mutual
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Financial Services Authority is taking to remove Ethnic Mutual from its register; and if he will make a statement. [178890]
Angela Eagle: This is a matter for the Financial Services Authority. The FSA is required by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 to publish any suspension of the society’s registration.
Excise Duties: Fuels
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by his Department on the number of motorists who (i) cease using their car, (ii) reduce the number of times they use their car and (iii) maintain their driving levels following an increase in fuel duty; and if he will make a statement. [182680]
Angela Eagle: The Government are committed to achieving a sustainable economy. At Budget 2007, fuel duty rates were announced for the following three financial years, in order to provide certainty to business and consumers. It is estimated that these rates will result in a reduction of 250 million litres of fuel that would otherwise have been purchased by 2011-12, had duty been increased in line with inflation during the period.
This effect is driven by a number of factors—including more efficient driving, a reduction in the number of journeys taken, and an improvement in the efficiency of cars purchased. However, HM Revenue and Customs do not disaggregate these effects when calculating the overall impact of duty increases.
Fair Trade Initiative
Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department’s policy is on the use of fair trade goods (a) in staff catering facilities and (b) at official departmental functions and meetings; and if he will make a statement. [183874]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for St. Ives (Andrew George) on 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1552W.
Fair Trade goods continue to be offered to staff and Fair Trade teas and coffees are served at all official meetings.
Financial Services Authority: Resignations
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of Financial Services Authority staff indicated in the most recent staff survey that they were considering leaving the organisation. [183872]
Angela Eagle: The matter raised in this question is the responsibility of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). I have asked the chief executive of the FSA to write to the hon. Member on the issue he raises.
Metronet: Finance
Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the implications are, including sums involved, of the Office of National Statistics reclassifying Metronet and Tubelines costs from the private sector to the public sector for National Accounts purposes. [170013]
Angela Eagle: The public sector classification of Metronet and Tubelines was a statistical decision with no impact on the way in which the PPP contracts operate.
Estimates of the impact were set out in the ONS release of 24 September 2007.
National Income: South West Region
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross value added per head of population was for each local authority in the South West Region. [182464]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 1 February 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about gross value added (GVA) per head of population in each local authority in the South West region. (182464)
The Office for National Statistics publishes regional GVA using official statistical geographies known as Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS). NUTS3 data includes local authority level data but do not fully correspond to the local authorities of the United Kingdom. Regional GVA estimates are expressed at current basic prices and do not allow for changes in prices over time (inflation) or differences in regional price levels (purchasing power).
Regional GVA per head can be found in table 3.2 of the link:
The full range of regional GVA estimates are available on the ONS website:
Revenue and Customs: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the reasons are for the Milton Keynes tax office’s practice of not issuing receipts for tax returns handed in in person before the 31 January deadline. [184078]
Jane Kennedy: Since 2005 HMRC has adopted a consistent national approach of not issuing receipts for returns handed in to Enquiry Centres. Checking and issuing receipts for returns diverted staff from serving those that need advice and help to complete their forms particularly around the 31 January SA deadline when many hundreds of thousands of tax returns are handed in.
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