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Prisoners Release

Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners released on end of custody licenses were recalled for being out of touch with their supervising probation officer in the latest period for which figures are available. [182771]

Mr. Hanson: The end of custody licence was introduced on 29 June 2007. Eligible prisoners serving between four weeks and four years may be released under licence from prison up to up to 18 days before their automatic release date.

The total number of releases by offence group, sentence length, age, gender, ethnicity and prison establishment, and recalls notified to NOMS, have been published on the Ministry of Justice website for the first week of the scheme, the remainder of July, and every subsequent month since then.

The monthly published figures can be found on separate links under the following main link:


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Data on releases up to the end of December 2007 have recently been published and the schedule for further publications can be found at:

There were 233 decisions to recall prisoners released on end of custody licence between 29 June and the end of December 2007, for the reason of being out of touch with the probation service, equivalent to 1.4 per cent. of all releases under ECL in the same period.

Offenders can be recalled for more than one reason.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were released on end of custody licences in each month since July 2007; and how many of those have been taken back into custody for offending during the period of their licence. [182774]

Mr. Hanson: The end of custody licence was introduced on 29 June 2007. Eligible prisoners serving between four weeks and four years may be released under licence from prison up to up to 18 days before their automatic release date.

The total number of releases by offence group, sentence length, age, gender, ethnicity and prison establishment, and recalls notified to NOMS, have been published on the Ministry of Justice website for the first week of the scheme, the remainder of July, and every subsequent month since then.

The monthly published figures can be found on separate links under the following main link:

Data on releases up to the end of December 2007 will be published at the end of January 2008 according to the schedule of MoJ statistical publications (http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/moj-stats-schedule.pdf)

Figures for the numbers of prisoners released on end of custody licence between 29 June and the end of November 2007, the last date for statistics are currently available, can be found in the following table:

Releases on end of custody licence, 29 June to November 2007
ReleasesRecalls for alleged reoffending

29 June to 5 July

1,701

6

6 July to 31 July

2,131

35

August

2,493

30

September

2,195

13

October

2,612

34

November

2,610

38


These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners: Bail Hostels

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) for what reasons he is considering accommodating prisoners in bail hostels; what types of prisoners he is considering for that accommodation; and in what locations; [183735]


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(2) what consultations he plans to hold with police and local authorities before housing rented for asylum seekers is used as bail hostels; [183824]

(3) what plans he has to establish further bail houses in North East Lincolnshire; what category of prisoner each will accommodate; and what capacity each will have. [183828]

Mr. Hanson: I understand these questions to refer to the Bail Accommodation and Support Service. These are not bail hostels. The service provides accommodation in flats and houses with up to five people sharing, and support to users.

We are providing this service because we consider that prison should be reserved for those who need to be held in custody in order to protect the public. Those defendants, innocent until proven guilty, who can be bailed should be so. Judges and magistrates have consistently asked that we provide more bail accommodation because there are numbers of defendants without accommodation whom the courts consider can be bailed if such accommodation, with necessary support, is made available. Similarly there are prisoners eligible for release on home detention curfew, with a tag, who cannot be released because they do not have an address at which they can be curfewed. The service enables prison governors to make decisions to release such people. It is not in the public interest to keep in prison people who do not need to be there.

The service is available for defendants whom the courts have assessed as suitable for bail, and for sentenced prisoners released on home detention curfew after a thorough risk assessment by the prison governor. Excluded from the service are those convicted of or charged with sex offences, those convicted of arson in the last 10 years or charged with arson and those who pose a significant risk to the public or to ClearSprings staff or to others in a shared house.

A list of towns or areas where accommodation is currently provided or is being sought was included in my written answer of 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1655W).

12 ClearSprings properties now used for the Bail Accommodation and Support Service were used previously for the ClearSprings asylum contract. The local authorities and police were consulted as to suitability, and were advised when the premises were made available for BASS.

There is currently one four-bed property in Grimsby. This was not previously used for asylum seekers. A three-bed property is being sought in Scunthorpe. This requirement has been identified by the regional offender manager in discussion with probation and taking account of the volume of defendants through the courts.

Prisoners: Personal Records

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure that medical, educational and other records follow prisoners immediately on transfer from one prison to another; and what the average length of time has been for a prisoner's records to be received by the prison of destination following transfer over the last 12 months. [178751]


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Maria Eagle: The Discharge Prison Service Order sets out documents which must travel with a prisoner's escorting officer and these include; the prisoner's inmate core record, the custodial documents file and the prisoner's clinical record. The principle is that the transfer of documents is immediate.

In cases where a prisoner arrives at a new establishment without all the necessary documentation the reception staff would notify the appropriate department within the releasing prison, who will then forward that information.

The Prison Service Order Continuity of Healthcare for Prisoners (PSO 3050), contains guidance to improve the continuity of care received when a prisoner is transferred from one establishment to another, as well as at reception and on discharge. The prison clinical record is designed to be clear and legible, to identify medical history and pathways of care, and to improve communication between clinicians.

The Learning and Skills Council is currently developing its Learner Summary Record Database which will, for the first time, provide a central store of learner information that can be accessed by education providers delivering learning and skills in prisons irrespective of where the offender is serving their sentence. The development of the database and indeed the operation of it are designed to minimise the period of discontinuity in an individual offender's agreed learning programme if they are moved during their sentence period.

Prisons: Wales

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the effect on costs of the merger of the offices of the Regional Offender Manager and the Area Prison Manager in Wales is estimated to be. [184938]

Mr. Hanson: We are restructuring to achieve more with less resource at the regional tiers, and because we want a higher proportion of available resources to be spent on direct service delivery. The cost of the reorganisation will be contained within existing budgets. We are not yet in a position to say what the exact effect on costs in Wales will be, but we anticipate that there will be some efficiency-savings created from the removal of duplicated processes in areas such as planning, resource allocation and performance management.

Probation: Reorganisation

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the effect on costs of the Probation Service in Wales of the structural changes to be implemented on 1 April. [184936]

Mr. Hanson: We do not anticipate that there will be any adverse effect on costs for Probation Boards or Probation Trusts in Wales as a result of the structural changes to be implemented on 1 April. The phased transition from probation boards to probation trusts will continue, with the SLAs and contracts being held by the Director of Offender Management.

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to make available adequate resources for the Probation Service in Wales to implement the structural changes on 1 April. [184937]


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Mr. Hanson: We do not anticipate any adverse resource implications for the Probation Service in Wales as a result of the structural changes taking place on 1 April. The phased transition from probation boards to probation trusts will continue, with the SLAs and contracts being held by the Director of Offender Management.

Procurement

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 7 January 2008, Official Report, column 171W, on procurement, if he will list each division in his Department. [184054]

Maria Eagle: Divisions within the Ministry of Justice' Headquarters and it's agencies as at 31 December 2007 are in the following tables. The Prison Service is a next steps agency and as such does not have divisions.

Ministry of Justice’ Headquarters Divisions

Ministry of Justices’ Agencies: H er M ajesty’s Courts Service Divisions


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