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19 May 2008 : Column 68W—continued

Prisoners

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the prison population was at the latest date for which figures are available; what proportion of the population this represents; and what bench-marking his Department has undertaken of the proportion of the UK population in prison against equivalent statistics for other EU member states. [205748]

Mr. Hanson: Figures showing the numbers of prisoners in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the total for European Union countries can be found in the following table along with the calculated comparison of prison population per 100,000 against each total.

Country	2006	Rate per 100,000 population in 2006
England and Wales	79,085	147
Northern Ireland	1,433	82
Scotland	7,111	139
European Union 25	556,039	120

The other 24 countries in the EU in 2006 were Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

These figures are taken from table 8.17 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2006, a copy of which can be found in the House of Common Library. Table 8.17 is a web table and can be found at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/prisonand probation.htm

This table includes comparative data on 44 countries.

The most recent figure for the prison population of all prison establishments in England and Wales is 81,695 at the end of March 2008 which can be found at the website:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/population-in-custody-mar08. pdf

The equivalent figure, at the end of March 2008, for the prison population of all prison establishments in Scotland is 7,704. Population data can be found at the website:

http://www.sps.gov.uk/

The equivalent figure, at the end of March 2008, for the prison population of all prison establishments in Northern Ireland is 1,477. Population data can be found at the website:

http://www.niprisonservice.gov.uk/index.cfm

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.

Prisoners Release: Overdoses

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many ex-offenders died from a heroin overdose within a fortnight of leaving prison in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [205443]

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Mr. Hanson: Data showing the number of ex-offenders who died from a heroin overdose within a fortnight of leaving prison are not routinely collected.

The most recent research evidence from a study which reported in 2005 showed that the drug related death rate for prisoners during the year following release was 5.2 per 1,000 for men and 5.9 per 1,000 for women (Farrell and Marsden, 2005); The rate was much higher immediately after release. In the first week the rate for men was around seven times higher than the annual rate and for women around eight times higher; in the second week, the rates were, respectively, around four times and six and a half times the annual rate.

A comprehensive drug treatment framework is in place in prisons with a particular focus on reducing drug related deaths including:

the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) designed to reduce the risk through the improved quality of clinical treatment;

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harm minimisation advice and throughcare services provided through the Counselling, Advice, Referral and Throughcare services (CARATs) linked to the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) help to ensure that the continuity of care for offenders is maintained following release from prison into the community; and

post-custody supervision: a number of initiatives have been put in place to reduce the risk of drug-related death following release from prison.

Secure Training Centres: Labour Turnover

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff (a) have been appointed to and (b) resigned from each secure training centre in each year since they were opened. [201709]

Mr. Hanson: The available information, provided by the Youth Justice Board, on the number of staff appointed to secure training centres each year and the number leaving, is shown in the table as follows.

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19 May 2008 : Column 72W

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Medway Secure Training Centre—opened 17 April 1998
Starters
Custody staff	n/a	66	40	39	130	135	88	67	101	91
Other	n/a	30	17	12	10	8	3	7	5	5
Total	n/a	96	57	51	140	143	91	74	106	96
Leavers
Custody staff	29	33	36	42	61	95	66	75	70	101
Other	2	1	4	7	5	6	3	5	5	9
Total	31	34	40	49	66	101	69	80	89	110
Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre—opened 3 July 1999
Starters
Custody staff	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	109	60	52	76	84	60
Other	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	12	6	5	5	12	3
Total	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	121	66	57	81	96	63
Leavers										1
Custody staff	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	31	48	52	48	45	50
Other	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	7	4	5	10	6	2
Total	—	n/a	n/a	n/a	38	52	57	58	51	52
Hassockfield Secure Training Centre—opened 17 September 1999( 1)
Starters
Custody staff	—	16	22	31	65	25	32	24	55	17
Other	—	11	23	19	7	8	14	10	21	15
Total	—	27	45	50	72	33	46	34	76	32
Leavers
Custody staff	—	10	33	23	26	25	23	17	10	15
Other	—	10	37	17	15	14	18	10	8	15
Total	—	20	70	40	41	39	41	27	18	30
Oakhill Secure Training Centre—opened 19 August 2004
Starters
Custody staff	—	—	—	—	—	—	234	134	83	166
Other	—	—	—	—	—	—	32	33	28	31
Total	—	—	—	—	—	—	266	167	111	197
Leavers
Custody staff	—	—	—	—	—	—	77	93	80	100
Other	—	—	—	—	—	—	5	28	17	24
Total	—	—	—	—	—	—	82	121	97	124
(1)( )19 September 1999 to 31 December 1999 Notes: 1. At Medway, Rainsbrook and Oakhill, “other staff” excludes teachers and healthcare staff, none of whom are directly employed by the STC contractors. 2. Hassockfield’s “other staff” includes teachers and healthcare staff, as they are directly employed by the STC contractors. 3. The high number of joiners at Rainsbrook and Medway in 2002 and 2003 reflects the expansion of both centres from 44 to 76 beds. (Hassockfield has 42 beds, Oakhill has 80.) 4. Joiner/leaver numbers at all centres include staff who were provisionally appointed but did not actually start work with children because they did not pass the initial training course or did not receive Criminal Records Bureau clearance. Those staff did not have contact with children. 5. Rainsbrook introduced a fully automated personnel/payroll system in 2002. As data prior to this period are limited and accuracy cannot be guaranteed, they have not been included. 6. Staff figures for Hassockfield in 1999 are for appointments after 19 September, when the centre opened. Some staff were appointed prior to opening, but figures for these are not available.

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