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National Probation Service for England and Wales: Vacancies

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many vacant posts in the Probation Service he expects will not be filled in 2008-09, broken down by grade. [195664]

Mr. Hanson: Information is not available to answer this question as staffing requirements are currently being reviewed throughout the Probation Service.

To date, long-term workforce planning has been conducted in a limited manner within the Probation Service and has largely been undertaken in concert with the annual intake on to the Diploma in Probation Studies (DiPS), which is led by NOMS probation area co-ordination unit. Responsibility for all other recruitment and workforce planning rests with each of the individual probation areas. With the impending decision on the future of the DiPS and the development and
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implementation of its replacement, the process by which workforce planning will be conducted nationally and locally, is currently being reviewed in order to align it to future arrangements.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many vacant posts in the Probation Service were not filled in 2007-08, broken down by grade. [195705]

Mr. Hanson: Not all probation areas in the National Probation Service operate a set establishment against which vacant posts can be measured. As a more representative alternative, probation areas are required
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to report regularly on the number of active vacancies they have. An active vacancy is one which a probation area is actively trying to fill through a recruitment process.

Information on the number of active vacancies in the NPS is currently only available up to the end of quarter 1 2007-08 (June 2007).

The following table shows the number of active vacancies there were in each job group at the end of quarters 2 to 4 2006-07 and quarter 1 2007-08. As recruitment is the responsibility of each local area, information is not held nationally on how many of these vacancies were not filled.

	2006-07			2007-08
National probation Service	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Deputy Chief Officer	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.00
Assistant Chief Officer	0.00	2.00	2.00	2.00
Area/District Manager	2.50	0.00	2.00	2.00
Middle Manager	32.60	28.80	25.10	20.95
Senior Practitioner	23.33	2.40	10.90	6.70
Probation Officer	92.56	43.97	71.58	87.29
Professional Development Advisor	3.50	0.50	2.00	1.30
Trainee Probation Officer	205.00	80.00	0.00	0.00
Treatment Manager	1. 00	2.00	2.00	3.50
Probation Services Officer	203.15	121.00	163.29	166.93
Psychologist	1.00	0.00	2.00	0.00
Other Operational Staff	41.80	15.22	14.55	11.66
Support Staff—Administration	265.22	73.51	130.59	128.73
Support Staff—Other	18.29	16.34	16.77	17.84
Other staff	8.80	3.00	1.20	4.60
Total	899.75	389.74	444.98	453.50
Information on vacancies in the trainee Probation Officer job group was no longer collected from quarter 4 2006-07 onwards as recruitment to the group was to a fixed number.

Prison Accommodation: Dorchester Prison

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many spaces were available in the first night centre at HMP Dorchester on the first Friday of each month for the last 12 months for which figures are available; and how many first night prisoners were received on each of those days. [196401]

Mr. Hanson: There are a maximum of 24 spaces on Dorchester's first night centre (C wing). The following table sets out the number of new receptions to the prison and the number of vulnerable prisoners also held on C wing on the first Friday of each month since August 2007 (no records are available prior to that time). It is not possible to state how many spaces remained available though, as this would have been dependent upon the assessed cell-sharing suitability of those prisoners located there, information that is not available.

	Number of new receptions	Number prisoners of vulnerable held on C Wing
3 August 2007	5	3
7 September 2007	9	8
5 October 2007	12	1
2 November 2007	10	11
7 December 2007	7	6
4 January 2008	9	4
1 February 2008	10	10
7 March 2008	12	16

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many vulnerable (a) remand and (b) convicted prisoners were accommodated at HMP Dorchester on the first Friday of each month for the last 12 months for which figures are available; and how many spaces designated for vulnerable prisoners there were at the prison on each of these dates. [196402]

Mr. Hanson: The following table sets out the total number of vulnerable prisoners held at HMP Dorchester on the first Friday of each month since August 2007 (no records are available prior to that time). It is not possible from the available records to differentiate between remand and convicted prisoners. The vulnerable prisoner unit at HMP Dorchester holds a maximum of 24 prisoners, with any overspill being located on the first night centre.

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	Number of vulnerable prisoners
3 August 2007	27
7 September 2007	32
5 October 2007	25
2 November 2007	35
7 December 2007	30
4 January 2008	28
1 February 2008	34
7 March 2008	40

Prisons: Design

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2008, Official Report, columns 491W, on prisons, if he will publish the design, security and technical specifications and standards produced by the National Offender Management Service relating to the designs of (a) existing and (b) new prison places. [196153]

Mr. Hanson: The design, security and technical specifications/standards for existing and new prisons are not intended for general publication and it would be impracticable to do so. There are currently over 1,000 standard and design documents of which the vast majority are detailed technical drawings. Furthermore, security could be unnecessarily compromised by general publication. If credible interested parties, including the hon. Member for Harborough, wish to
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gain access to this documentation, suitable secure and controlled arrangements are already in place to facilitate such requests.

Road Traffic Offences

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people aged under 18 were prosecuted for offences related to (a) fatal and (b) serious road traffic accidents in each of the last five years; [195412]

(2) how many (a) unlicensed and (b) unqualified drivers were prosecuted for offences associated with (i) fatal and (ii) serious road traffic accidents in each of the last five years; [195413]

(3) how many people unqualified to drive were prosecuted for taking and driving away motor vehicles in each of the last five years. [195415]

Maria Eagle: Available information held by my Department on the numbers of prosecutions for motoring offences that cause the death of, or cause bodily harm to, a person is provided in the following tables.

Serious and fatal road traffic collisions may be the result of, or associated with, some other offences, for example careless driving. However the information held centrally does not identify the circumstances of individual cases and in particular whether a fatality or serious injury occurred.

While the Department for Transport monitors details of road traffic accidents, this information is not linked with details of any subsequent prosecutions.

Table A: Proceedings at magistrates courts by type of offence, and for offenders aged under 18, England and Wales, 2001 - 05
Number of offences
Offence type		2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Causing death by dangerous driving(1)		9	27	21	20	13
Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs(2)		0	1	2	0	0
Causing death by aggravated vehicle taking(3)		6	10	6	7	7
Causing bodily harm by furious driving(4)		9	4	8	9	4
(1) Offences under the RTA 1988 s. 1 as amended by RTA 1991 s. 1 and CJA 1993 s. 67. (2) Offences under the RTA 1988 s. 3A as added by the RTA 1991 s. 3 and amended by CJA 1993 s. 67. (3 )Offences under the Theft Act 1968 s. 12A as added by Aggravated Vehicle Taking Act 1992 s. 1. (4 )Offences against the Person Act 1861 s. 35. Note: 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.

Table B: Proceedings at magistrates courts by type of offence, all ages, England and Wales, 2001 - 05
Number of offences
Offence type	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Causing death by dangerous driving(1)	361	320	363	360	360
Causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs(2)	66	78	85	68	77
Causing death by aggravated vehicle taking(3)	35	33	24	17	32
Causing bodily harm by furious driving(4)	83	65	56	46	33
(1) Offences under the RTA 1988 s. 1 as amended by RTA 1991 s. 1 and CJA 1993 s. 67. (2) Offences under the RTA 1988 s. 3A as added by the RTA 1991 s. 3 and amended by CJA 1993 s. 67. (3) Offences under the Theft Act 1968 s. 12A as added by Aggravated Vehicle Taking Act 1992 s. 1. (4) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s. 35. Note: 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.

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