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1 Apr 2008 : Column 889W—continued
Departmental Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice at how many events held by his Department (a) wine and (b) Fairtrade wine were served in the last three years; and what assessment his Department has made of the merits of serving Fairtrade wine at future events. [196946]
Maria Eagle: My Department does not hold any records of how many events wine or Fairtrade wine has been served in the last three years and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Where catering services are through commercial arrangements, we will continue to encourage suppliers to support and make use of Fairtrade products.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 599W, on the departmental intranet, whether his Department's IT system is able to provide a record of Wikipedia entries (a) created and (b) amended from within his Department. [195838]
Maria Eagle:
The Ministry of Justice's IT systems do not provide a record of this information, as IP addresses for Wikipedia users within the Department and its agencies cannot be linked to individuals. It
should be noted that any input to such websites would be done in accordance with the civil service code, which states that civil servants should: “use resources only for the authorised public purposes for which they are provided” and “make sure public money and other resources are used properly and efficiently”.
Departmental Training
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff in his Department and its agencies have attended the (a) Influencing with Integrity, (b) Emotional Intelligence, (c) Counselling Skills for the Workplace, (d) Managing your Confidence, (e) Balancing Work/Life Realities and (f) Working Assertively training course run by the National School of Government in the last 12 months for which information is available; and at what cost. [197067]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is in the following table.
| Ministry of Justice | HM Courts Service | HM Prison Service | |
| Key: AAW = Working Assertively AWLB = Balancing Work/Life Realities CONF = Managing your Confidence COUN = Counselling Skills for the Workplace IIS = Influencing with Integrity PEPS = Emotional Intelligence | |||
Drugs: Misuse
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average sentence was for persons sentenced to immediate custody for offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 section 4(3) and 5(3), in each of the last five years. [196833]
Mr. Straw: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Person sentenced( 1 ) to immediate custody for offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 section 4(3) and 5(3), and the average sentence length( 2) , for each of the last five years | |||||
| Sentenced | Sentence to immediate custody | Custody rate (%) | Average sentence length (months)( 2) | ||
| (1) Principal offence basis (2) Excludes life sentences PQ(RN)133-08 RDS NOMS 28 March 2008 Misuse of drugs Act (1971) S.4(3) Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug (or being concerned in) Class ‘A’ Drug, Class ‘B’ Drug, Class ‘C’ Drug, class unspecified Misuse of drugs Act (1971) S.5(3) Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply, Class ‘A’ Drug, Class ‘B’ Drug, Class ‘C’ Drug, class unspecified | |||||
Financial Reporting Orders
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2008, Official Report, column 156W, on financial reporting orders, for what reason the Serious Organised Crime Agency Annual Report for 2006-07 states that 12 such orders are in place. [195714]
Mr. Straw: The SOCA annual report 2006-07 gave the number of orders, which the Agency had successfully obtained in that period. The information in my reply of 10 March 2008, Official Report, column 756W, was prepared looking only at principal sentencing disposals, in line with standard practice. As the financial order is not a “primary disposal” of the courts, this led to the discrepancy in my earlier reply, and the impression—which I regret—that none had been issued when 12 had. I continue to be concerned about the reliability of court data and have asked for serious work to be undertaken to make it more informative.
HM Courts Service: Security
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) at how many courts the provision of security, guarding and surveillance services have been outsourced to private contractors; [196106]
(2) how many staff the Courts Service employs directly or via contractors for security and guarding duties. [196108]
Maria Eagle: Contracted security guarding services are provided to 609 courts.
The majority of security guarding services in Her Majesty’s Courts Service are contracted out. Contractors currently provide 1,361 guards in courts. A further 50 staff are employed directly by HMCS.
House of Lords: Reform
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will publish the minutes of the cross-party working group on Lords reform. [197649]
Mr. Straw: I refer my right hon. Friend to my written answer given on 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 187W to the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir Patrick Cormack).
Judges: Education
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many judges were educated at (a) private and (b) comprehensive schools. [197322]
Mr. Straw: This information is not kept by either the Ministry of Justice or the Judicial Offices for England and Wales.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the letter of 11 February 2008 from Mr. C. M. Goodchild of Lymington on a divorce case. [198121]
Bridget Prentice: We do not appear to have received Mr. Goodchild's letter. A copy has been obtained and a reply will be sent to him as soon as possible.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the contribution of the National Offender Management Service to public safety since its inception. [196144]
Maria Eagle: Since its inception, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has developed and disseminated a range of operational guidance, practice and advice to assist frontline staff in managing offenders under statutory supervision in the community, including offenders managed under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). The guidance to the MAPPA responsible authorities—the police, prison and probation services—assists them in the effective supervision of offenders convicted of the most serious sexual and violent offenders.
In addition, the roll-out of the offender management model has brought the benefits of end to end offender management to bear on the supervision of the most high risk offenders. And the introduction of ViSOR into prisons and probation has provided offender managers with significant new sources of information on which to assess and manage sexual and violent offenders.
Offenders: Housing
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the addresses are of the residential institutions run by ClearSprings on behalf of the National Offender Management Service for offenders and ex-offenders. [197048]
Mr. Hanson: ClearSprings do not provide hostels or institutions. They provide homes in normal residential accommodation for people who have been bailed by the Courts or released from prison on home detention curfew. It is not our practice to disclose the private addresses of defendants or offenders.
Offenders: Rehabilitation
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how much was spent on providing behavioural programmes for offenders (a) in custody and (b) serving community sentences in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement; [196127]
(2) what funding has been allocated for the provision of behavioural programmes for offenders (a) in custody and (b) serving community sentences for 2008-09, broken down by funding source; and if he will make a statement. [196128]
Maria Eagle: The funding for the delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes in custody is part of establishment baselines, therefore it is not possible to accurately disaggregate the cost of this work. The Prison Service is currently working on developing a costing process to provide more accurate costs for regime activities and interventions.
Additional funding was provided by the Government to expand the delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes in custody as shown in the following table:
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