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29 Apr 2008 : Column 392W—continued
Prisoners: Suicide
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to reduce suicides in prison. [201819]
Maria Eagle: The National Offender Management Service has a broad, integrated and evidence-based prisoner suicide prevention strategy that seeks to reduce the distress of all who live and work in prisons. This encompasses a wide spectrum of prison and Department of Health work around such issues as mental health, drugs, resettlement, leadership and training.
A revised strategy was published in October 2007 with implementation to be completed in every prison by the end of April 2008. This builds on several years of learning from the experiences of prisoners, staff, investigators, inspectors and others, and aims to embed improved suicide prevention and self-harm management methods of working in all areas of prison life. It incorporates the care-planning system for at-risk
prisoners, improved cross-agency information flows, and also reflects long-standing areas of safer custody work such as listener and insider peer supporters, local suicide prevention co-ordinators and working with outside organisations.
Prisons
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what consultative meetings Lord Carter has held as part of his prisons review; [201704]
(2) what written submissions Lord Carter has received as part of his prisons review. [201705]
Maria Eagle: In December the Government accepted Lord Carter of Coles’ report ‘Securing the Future: proposals for an efficient and sustainable use of custody in England and Wales’. Lord Carter had access to a range of expertise and advice in drawing up his report and consulted a variety of stakeholders.
Prisons: Drugs
Mr. Ruffley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many visitors to prisons were found to be in possession of illegal drugs in each year since 1997; how
many were referred to the police; and what action was taken in respect of those not referred to the police. [200242]
Mr. Hanson: The Prison Service takes very seriously any attempt to smuggle drugs. The firmest possible action is taken against prisoners and visitors caught supplying drugs. The Offender Management Act 2007 creates a specific criminal offence of smuggling drugs into prisons. I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave on 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 89W.
A comprehensive framework is in place for dealing with visitors who seek to smuggle drugs through visits. The number of visitors suspected of involvement in drug smuggling incidents and the action taken internally by prisons along with the number of visitors arrested is detailed in the following table.
No record is kept of the number of visitors found to be in possession of illegal drugs but a good indication is the number arrested.
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.
| 1999-2000( 1) | 2000-07 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |||
| (1) The first year in which visits ban data became available. (2) Number of reported drug incidents in which a visitor was suspected of involvement and arrested by police. A particular incident may involve more than one arrest. | ||||||||||
Data covering the 2007-08 financial year are not yet available.
Prisons: Employment
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what rules are in place governing the employment of prisoners by external companies. [201706]
Maria Eagle: The Prison Service has a significant number of contracts and contacts with the private sector that lead to prisoners undertaking work or training within prisons but these do not create legally recognised employee/employer relationships and the prisoners are always under the governors, overall management and supervision.
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether any prisoners in contracted out prisons are employed by outside companies. [201708]
Maria Eagle: There are no prisoners currently in the 11 contracted prisons who are employed by outside companies either at the prison or while Released On Temporary License (ROTL).
Prisons: Housing
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison residential quarters are occupied by prison officers; and if he will make a statement. [201810]
Mr. Hanson: The remaining Prison Service quarters are occupied by Prison Service staff, including prison officers, chaplains and agricultural workers or in a small number of cases, by former prison staff or relatives on compassionate grounds. Of the 480 or so remaining quarters some 285 are occupied by serving prison officers.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison residential quarters occupied by prison officers are planned to be let to avoid the costs that would be incurred in upgrading properties to meet the 2010 Decent Housing Standard; and if he will make a statement. [201818]
Mr. Hanson:
Since 1987 the policy has been not to provide prison quarters and to dispose of the existing quarters under the then discount sales scheme or on the open market. Since that time some 12,000 quarters have been sold and some 480 remain. Once these
remaining quarters are declared surplus to requirements and become vacant they are sold on the open market. In the financial year 2008-09 some 50 quarters are anticipated to be sold in this manner.
There are four quarters at HMP Wandsworth however that are not to be sold, on account of their strategic location on the front of the prison wall, and these are due to be transferred on a short to medium-term basis to a housing association or similar body who will source funding, possibly from a housing corporation to undertake the necessary works and then let the properties to local families who are deemed most in need of affordable social housing. A similar arrangement has been in place for some years for residential flats adjacent to Wormwood Scrubs.
Secure Training Centres: Manpower
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff in each secure training centre are educated to degree level; and how many have postgraduate qualifications in child care or education. [201711]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the number of staff working in Hassockfield, Medway and Rainsbrook secure training centres who hold a degree, or have a postgraduate child care or education qualification. Oakhill does not collate the information requested.
| Establishment | Degree | Postgraduate child care or education qualification |
| (1 )Oakhill does not collate statistics on the qualifications of its staff. Source: Youth Justice Board. | ||
Secure Training Centres: Sick Leave
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average sickness rate was for staff in each secure training centre in the latest year for which figures are available. [201710]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the average rate of sickness absence at each secure training centre during the 12 months ending 24 April 2008.
| Establishment | Percentage of staff days lost through sickness absence |
| Note: Figures provided by the YJB. 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 and can be subject to change over time. | |
Sentencing
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has conducted a race impact assessment of indeterminate sentencing for public protection. [201702]
Mr. Hanson: A consultation on the Criminal Justice Bill: Initial Partial Race Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken in 2003. Additionally the Commission for Racial Equality helped the Home Office identify a list of provisions in the Criminal Justice Act for race equality impact assessment, which did not include indeterminate sentences for public protection. We have not conducted a race assessment impact on these provisions since their implementation. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill contains clauses which will reform public protection sentences.
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many black and minority ethnic (a) men and (b) women have received an indeterminate sentence for public protection in each month since sentencing was introduced. [201703]
Mr. Hanson: The following table gives the number of prisoners received into prison establishments in England and Wales under an indeterminate sentence for public protection in each month since April 2005:
| Monthly receptions | |
| (1) Combined. | |
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