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27 Feb 2008 : Column 1710W—continued

Crime: Pregnant Women

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward legislation to enable unborn children to be treated as separate victims in criminal cases; what recent representations he has received about the issue; and if he will make a statement. [189010]

Maria Eagle: It is not necessary to change the law so that unborn children may be treated as separate victims. Under section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 it is an offence to act to procure a miscarriage (subject to the Abortion Act 1967). And under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, it is an offence for any person intentionally to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive. Injury to a foetus, if proved, is likely to be treated in law as an injury to the mother and prosecutable under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. The loss of an unborn child may also be taken into account as an aggravating factor in sentencing any person convicted of killing or harming the mother.

We have received correspondence on this issue from relatives of a murder victim who was pregnant at the time of her death; and a petition with 910 signatures following the death of an unborn child as the result of a road traffic accident.

Debt Collection

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will implement (a) the certification procedures for bailiffs and (b) the taking control of goods provisions of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007; and if he will make a statement. [188633]

Maria Eagle: My Department remains committed to implementing (a) the certification procedures for bailiffs and (b) the taking control of goods contained in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

To implement these provisions, underpinning rules and regulations will be required. A scoping exercise has now commenced to determine the development of these with the results informing the timetable for consultation and implementation. We expect this timetable to be completed by May 2008.

Departmental Public Participation

Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many consultations undertaken by private contractors his Department commissioned in the last 12 months; who carried them out; and what the cost was of each. [188356]

Maria Eagle: In the last 12 months my Ministry has not commissioned private contractors to carry out any consultations in their entirety. However, private contractors, including third sector organisations, have carried out certain aspects of a number of consultations for the Ministry of Justice. Details are in the following table.

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Name of consultation(s)	Name of private contractor	What they have been commissioned to do	Cost (£)
MoJ Third Sector Strategy: Improving policies and securing better Public services through effective Partnerships (and NOMS Third Sector Strategy)	Sand Resources Ltd	35 days’ consultancy work, contracted to draft MoJ consultation paper, help analyse responses and help produce final strategy paper. Also contracted to help analyse responses to NOMS Third Sector Action Plan and help develop final NOMS Action Plan	35,000
Draft Coroners Bill—reporting restriction provisions	Opinion Leader Research	One day workshop with stakeholders including representatives from the media and voluntary sectors and with coroners	6,830
NOMS Third Sector Strategy	CLINKS (Third sector organisation)	Run four Third Sector stakeholder events	20,000
NOMS Believing We Can	CLINKS	Run two Faith stakeholder events in the North West	10,000
NOMS Thirds Sector Strategy/Believing We Can	Lincolnshire Action Trust (Third sector organisation)	Run consultation events and develop third sector and faith alliances in the East Midlands	(1)8,950
NOMS Thirds Sector Strategy/Believing We Can	Futures Unlocked (Third sector organisation)	Run consultation events and develop third sector and faith alliances in the East Midlands	(1)9,010
Review of remuneration of Tribunals' Judiciary	PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)	Advise the senior salaries review on remuneration of tribunals’ judiciary, which included job evaluation and consultation on behalf of SSRB	(2)185,841
(1) Grant funding. (2) Please note that while this consultation was funded by the Ministry of Justice it was commissioned by the Office of Manpower Economics (OME). OME provides the secretariat for the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Departmental Redundancies

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost was of redundancies in his Department in the 12 months preceding (a) 30 June 2004, (b) 30 June 2005 and (c) 30 June 2006. [175338]

Maria Eagle: There have been no involuntary staff exit schemes.

While there have been some voluntary early departures between 1997 and 2005, information about redundancy costs is not held centrally due to previous machinery of Government changes and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

For the ex DCA cost of voluntary redundancies since 30 June 2006 is £17,488,631. The cost for HMPS since it became part of MoJ on the 5 May 2007 is £4,804,164. There have been no voluntary or compulsory redundancies from NOMS since they became part of the Ministry of Justice. There are also three cases for early departure from CICA, which is sponsored by OCJR which have been approved at a cost of £244,971.

Firearms: Sentencing

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people received (a) custodial and (b) non-custodial sentences on conviction for offences which included the carrying or use of a firearm in each of the last five years. [185634]

Mr. Straw: Information on possession of a firearm is contained in the following table. Statistics for 2007 will be published in the autumn.

In such instances as a robbery or violent assault where an individual has used a firearm or other offensive weapon then they will principally be sentenced for the more serious transgression, and the figures for such more serious offences do not isolate the specific use of a firearm in such circumstances.

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Persons sentenced( 1) for possession of a firearm( 2) , all courts, England and Wales 2002-06, England and Wales
Number of offenders
	Offence codes
Type of sentence	8103	8104	8117	8126	8127	8129	8230	8235	8136	8137	8170	8171	Total
2002
Total sentenced	195	101	789	48	14	2	1	59	10	36	_	_	1,255
Custodial sentence	51	4	176	28	3	—	—	29	4	5	—	—	300
Non-custodial sentence(3)	144	97	613	20	11	2	1	30	6	31	—	—	955
2003
Total sentenced	232	74	903	72	8	—	—	69	9	35	—	—	1,402
Custodial sentence	91	5	216	32	5	—	—	31	1	6	—	—	387
Non-custodial sentence(3)	141	69	687	40	3			38	8	29	—	—	1,015
2004
Total sentenced	217	55	746	157	37	5	—	83	7	33	314	2	1,656
Custodial sentence	85	7	252	23	10	2	—	46	3	6	27	1	462
Non-custodial sentence(3)	132	48	494	134	27	3	—	37	4	27	257	1	1,164
2005
Total sentenced	206	53	389	218	33	3	—	93	6	37	700	—	1,738
Custodial sentence	54	9	242	23	6	1	—	47	.	10	75	—	467
Non-custodial sentence(3)	152	44	147	195	27	2	—	46	6	27	625	—	1,271
2006
Total sentenced	210	67	280	144	21	3	—	63	4	33	767	2	1,594
Custodial sentence	67	7	212	19	4	2	—	36	1	9	88	—	445
Non-custodial sentence(3)	143	60	68	125	17	1	—	27	3	24	679	2	1,149
(1) Principal offence basis. (2) Possession of a firearm includes the offences of: 8 81/03 possessing firearm without certificate: 81/04 possessing shotgun without certificate; 81/17 possessing or distributing prohibited weapons; 81/26 carrying firearm in a public place 81/27 carrying loaded firearm in a public place; 81/29 trespassing with firearm in a building (Group I); 81/30 trespassing with firearm in a building (Group II); 81/35 possession firearm by person previously convicted of crime (Group I); 81/36 possession firearm by person previously convicted of crime (Group II); 81/37 possession firearm by person previously convicted of crime (Group III); 81/70 possessing weapon designed for discharge of noxious liquid; 81/71 possessing firearm disguised as other object. (3) Non-custodial sentences include absolute and conditional discharge, fine, community sentence, suspended sentence and otherwise dealt with. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: RDS-NOMS, Ministry of Justice

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