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5 Mar 2008 : Column 2631W—continued
Prisons: Nutrition
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what requirements there are on (a) prisons and (b) young offender institutions to act upon nutritional guidance offered by the Food Standards Agency in respect of food provision for (i) older people and (ii) adults in institutions. [191358]
Maria Eagle: HM Prison Service has recently completed a routine review of its catering policy and a revised Prison Service Order (PSO 5000 the Catering Manual) will be published shortly. The revised PSO includes additional guidance from the Food Standards Agency to further help prison caterers in England and Wales provide food that meets the nutritional needs of all prisoners.
Shoplifting
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people (a) were cautioned, (b) received a penalty notice for disorder and (c) were convicted for shoplifting in each of the last three years. [191391]
Maria Eagle: The information requested covering cautions, convictions and penalty notices for disorder (PNDS) for the years 2004-06 is provided in the following table.
| Number of offenders cautioned, defendants found guilty and penalty notices for disorder (PNDs) issued for shoplifting, England and Wales 2004-06( 1,2) | |||
| Cautioned | Found guilty | PNDs issued | |
| (1) The cautions and found guilty data are provided on the principal offence basis. PND data is a count of all penalty notices for disorder issued during the year. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces and courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) The offence of retail theft (goods of value under 200) was added to the PND scheme on 1 November 2004. Source: Court proceedings and penalty notices for disorder databases—Office for Criminal Justice Reform | |||
Solicitors: Negligence
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to remove the 15 year rule for negligence of solicitors under the Limitation Act 1980. [191791]
Bridget Prentice: The Limitation Act 1980 sets out time limits for bringing certain types of civil claim. These include claims arising from negligence including negligence on the part of professionals such as solicitors. In certain specific circumstances, the Act imposes a 15 year ‘long stop’ limitation period which operates to bar claims where the claimant has not discovered the damage complained of until after the ‘primary’ limitation period has expired.
The Law Commission has made recommendations to reform the law of limitation. These include reducing the 15 year period described above to 10 years. The Government have accepted these recommendations in principle and is currently preparing a consultation paper which will seek views on a draft Bill to implement them. Any changes to the law will be made after full consultation.
Television
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many plasma television screens have been purchased by his Department, its predecessor and its agencies, and at what cost in the last 24 months. [191024]
Maria Eagle: The MOJ has purchased 397 plasma television screens in the last 24 months at a total cost of £516,478. This excludes HM Prisons and NOMS, who are unable to answer without attracting disproportionate costs. HM Courts Service bought the majority of the screens as part of the Videolinks Project, which allows vulnerable witnesses to take part in trials without actually being present. Videolinks also connects to a number of prisons, which saves money by allowing certain meetings and proceedings to occur which would otherwise require prisoner transport and accommodation.
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether civil servants who are trades union officers in his Department are permitted to use (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave to engage in political activities. [191036]
Mr. Straw: Civil Servants in my Department who are trades union officers are provided with time off to undertake trade union duties through a facility agreement. The facility agreement does not provide for paid or unpaid leave to engage in political activities.
The extent to which a member of staff is permitted to use either paid or unpaid leave to engage in political activities is determined by whether their role is categorised as 'politically free' (broadly comprising all prison officer grades, industrial staff and operational support grades), 'politically restricted' (broadly comprising senior management grades) or 'intermediate' (broadly non-operational administrative staff and junior managers).
Subject to these conditions. Civil Servants in my Department may apply for either paid or unpaid time off to engage in political activities. Regulations regarding political activities are contained in the staff handbook and apply to all staff, including those engaged in trade union activities.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Chichester, of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 205W, on trades unions, whether those recognition agreements permit employees of his Department to take (a) paid and (b) unpaid leave to undertake political officer duties for those unions. [191049]
Mr. Straw: Trade Union recognition agreements in my Department do not include regulation of political activities, which are covered by the staff handbook.
Video Games: Prosecutions
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions were brought against retailers who sold video games and DVDs to underage customers in each year since 1997; and what proportion of those cases were successful. [189422]
Maria Eagle: Data on the number of prosecutions and convictions under the Video Recording Act 1984, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, in England and Wales 1997 to 2006 can be found in the table.
Information available to the Ministry of Justice relating to the Video Recording Act 1984 and amendments do not give the age of the customer, only the defendant. It is also not possible from the information held to distinguish prosecutions from other offences under the Act for the sale of video games or DVD’s.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
| The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the Video Recording Act 1984, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, in England and Wales 1997-2006( 1,2,3,4) | |||
| Prosecuted | Found guilty | Proportion (%) successful (i.e. number found guilty as a proportion of those prosecuted) | |
| (1) These data are on the principal offence basis. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Some of the statistics relate to illegal sales but it is not possible to tell whether these were necessarily sales to children. (4) Includes the following statutes and offence description: Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 11 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(4). Supplying video recording of classified work in breach of classification. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 9 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88. Supplying video recording of unclassified work. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 10 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88. Persons video recording of unclassified work for the purpose of supply. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 12 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(5). Certain video recordings only to be supplied in licensed sex shops. Video Recording Act 1984 Sec 13. Supply of video recording not complying with requirements as to labels etc. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 14 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(6). Supply of video recordings containing false indication as to classification. (5) Staffordshire police force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source: Court Proceedings Database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice | |||
Children, Schools and Families
Capita
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been paid to Capita for its education services in each year since 1997. [188368]
Kevin Brennan: Our finance system can only produce information from April 1999 onwards.
The amounts paid to Capita listed in the following table show the total amount paid to Capita Group plc and its subsidiaries in each financial year since 1999. The amounts may include payments for services other than educational services as we are unable to differentiate between payments for educational services and those for other types of service.
| £ | |
The expenditure relates to payments recorded in the Department's integrated financial information system and credited against Capita Group plc or its subsidiaries. The figure for 2007-08 is for amounts credited up to December 2007.
Children in Care: Jersey
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many local authorities in England with responsibility for children's services have placed children in the care of the States of Jersey since 1980; and what steps are being taken to ascertain the whereabouts of those people placed in care. [190958]
Kevin Brennan: No provisions exist in law for the responsibility for children in care to be transferred from English local authorities to the States of Jersey.
Any English local authority proposing to make arrangements for a child in care to be placed outside the jurisdiction of England and Wales (which includes placing a child in Crown Dependencies such as Jersey) requires the permission of a court, the child's consent, and the permission of all those with parental responsibility for the child, before doing so. The placing local authority retains parental responsibility for the child in such cases, which includes the responsibility for safeguarding them and promoting their welfare, as well as (since 2001) keeping in touch with care leavers until at least the age of 21. Data on the numbers of children placed in Jersey by English local authorities are not collected centrally.
Children: Databases
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) when the first additional risk assessment recommended by Deloitte in its security review of ContactPoint will be completed; and whether the full report will be made public; [190734]
(2) how frequently ongoing security risk assessments of ContactPoint, as recommended by Deloitte, will be conducted; and whether each report will be made public in full; [190735]
(3) on what date the decision was made not to publish a summary of Deloitte’s review of the security of ContactPoint; [190736]
(4) whether the summary of Deloitte’s review of the security of ContactPoint placed in the Library on 21 February 2008 includes reference to each recommendation made by Deloitte in the full report; [190737]
(5) when he expects the ContactPoint database to become fully operational; [190738]
(6) what assessment has been made of the (a) time, (b) manpower and (c) expenditure that will be required to implement in full the recommendations made by Deloitte in its security review of ContactPoint; [190739]
(7) whether (a) Deloitte and (b) another organisation will be commissioned to undertake a further security review of ContactPoint; [190740]
(8) what plans there are to upgrade the security of ContactPoint following Deloitte’s security review. [190750]
Kevin Brennan: In response to question 190734, the risk assessment, recommended by Deloitte, which will look in detail at the contractor’s design, will be completed by May 2008. The report will not be made public, as it will contain details of specific security arrangements. However, the ContactPoint security statement, which is publicly available, will be updated to reflect any changes made to security arrangements.
In response to question 190735, our plans for future risk assessment are based on key project milestones. These are:
at the end of detailed technical design;
before the system goes live;
at the end of the ‘Early Adopter’phase; and
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