| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Jun 2008 : Column 644W—continued
Driving Offences: Prosecutions
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions there have been for driving in a bus lane where the defence was that the driver entered the bus lane to make way for an emergency vehicle in the last three years; and how many such prosecutions were successful. [211448]
Maria Eagle: The Court Proceedings Database held by my Department does not identify the circumstances behind each case including what the defence might have said.
Female Genital Mutilation: Prosecutions
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions there have been under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. [211045]
Maria Eagle: There have been no prosecutions under the 2003 Act since it came into force in March 2004. However, the Act is designed to help to prevent this unacceptable practice from happening in the first place and anecdotal evidence suggests that it is doing this. It is also being used to raise awareness among relevant professionals including police forces and others in the Criminal Justice System and those involved with health care, social services and the education sector so that girls at risk can be identified. There is evidence that the law is being pursued vigorously. The Metropolitan Police Child Abuse Investigation Command, for example, has specifically targeted female genital mutilation and produced a comprehensive training pack which has been disseminated widely to London’s schools and many other agencies. Ultimately, educating communities to abandon the practice is the best way forward to break the cycle of mutilation and the Act continues to be widely used for that purpose.
Juries
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many jury summons were issued in each of the last five years; and of these how many potential jurors were disqualified following the results of a Police National Computer check. [210630]
Mr. Straw: The following information outlines, on a year by year basis, the total number of jury summons issued and the number of potential jurors disqualified as a result of Police National Computer (PNC) checks.
| Total jury summons issued | Potential jurors disqualified as a result of PNC checks | |
Juries: Finance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements are in place to compensate those who experience a loss of earnings as a result of jury service but who are self-employed or running new businesses and have as yet no track record of their earnings; and what arrangements are in place to provide appropriate levels of financial compensation for those jurors who draw a pension but also take on short-term contracted work. [211040]
Maria Eagle: All claims submitted for loss of earnings as a direct result of jury service, whether the juror is salaried, self-employed, or on temporary contracts, must be supported by the appropriate certificate or supporting documentation. Where an individual is running a new business and as yet there is no track record of earnings, some evidence of loss of earnings must be obtained, e.g. an authenticated letter from someone who would have offered work, quoting the remuneration or, other such documentary evidence that is available, subject to the approval by a senior officer at the Crown court. This is necessary to ensure that public money is spent carefully and the jury system is not open to abuse or fraud.
Limits on the allowance levels for financial loss are the same for self-employed and jurors on temporary contracts are they are for salaried jurors.
Members: Correspondence
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what account the Minister of State with responsibility for Freedom of Information took of the security implications of disclosure of people’s home addresses in preparing the letter dated 2 June to the hon. Member for New Forest, East on such disclosure; whether the security implications were considered as a factor in refusing disclosure of judges’ home addresses under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will make a statement. [210202]
Mr. Straw: The individuals’ personal security was a factor in determining that to release the addresses would breach the privacy of the judges concerned.
Offensive Weapons: Yorkshire
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted for offences relating to the illegal possession of knives in a public place in South Yorkshire in each year since 1997. [210692]
Mr. Straw: The number of people convicted for offences relating to the illegal possession of knives in a public place, in the South Yorkshire police force area, from 1997 to 2006 are in the following table.
The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
| Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for the illegal possession of knives in a public place( 1) , in South Yorkshire police force area, 1997 to 2006( 2, 3) | |
| Number | |
| (1) Includes the following offences: Having an article with blade or point in public place—Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139 as amended by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 S.3. Having an article with blade or point on school premises—Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139A (1)(5)(a) as added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 S.4(1). (2) These data are on the principal offence basis. (3) 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. | |
Prisoners Release: Reoffenders
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what categories of offences have been alleged to have been committed by prisoners recalled while on the End of Custody Licence scheme. [210635]
Mr. Straw: Approximately 1 per cent. of offenders placed on End of Custody Licence have been reported to NOMS as having reoffended or alleged to have reoffended. Data on ECL release and recall which have been published monthly since the scheme began, can be found at:
The categories of offences alleged to have been committed include: violence against the person, sexual offences, burglary, robbery, theft and handling, fraud and forgery, drug offences and motoring offences.
Prisons: Population
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects prison capacity in England and Wales to reach 86,000; and if he will make a statement. [210634]
Mr. Straw: I will respond to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Substantive answer from Jack Straw to Nick Herbert:
We estimate that prison capacity in England and Wales will reach 86,000 places around September 2009.
We are expanding prison capacity by 20,000 places and aim to achieve an overall net capacity of just over 96,000 by 2014.
Reoffenders
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the National Offender Management Service has conducted research on the actual or predicted recidivism rates of offenders by (a) custodial institution, (b) probation service area and (c) local criminal justice board area. [210633]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice is currently undertaking a programme of work to look at how best to produce these data (accounting for the different types of prisons and movement of offenders between prisons). This work should be completed by the end of the financial year 2008-09.
The Ministry of Justice has developed internal management information on reoffending for use by probation areas. These data show a timely area-based reoffending measure on a different basis from the published National Statistics on reoffending. Over the next few months as part of the local area agreements process, the Ministry of Justice will be working through plans for how best and when to publish these data.
The measure shows, for each of the 42 probation areas, the proportion of those on the probation caseload who reoffended within three months and were convicted within six months of the end of every quarter. This actual rate is compared to a predicted rate of reoffending. These experimental statistics are circulated to probation areas four times a year.
Local criminal justice board areas are coterminous with probation areas.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders aged 18 to 24 years old reoffended within two years of leaving prison in the last five years. [210712]
Mr. Hanson: The latest statistics on re-offending published in May 2008 report the re-offending rates over a one year follow up period.
The following table shows the one-year proven re-offending rates for offenders aged 18 to 24 years old leaving prison in the first quarter for 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
| Total number of offenders | Number of offenders that re-offended | Actual one-year re-offending rate (percentage) | |
For more information on the latest re-offending statistics, including additional information on frequency and severity of re-offending please consult:
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Apprentices: Finance
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much funding was allocated for apprenticeships in West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years. [210758]
Mr. Lammy: Information on Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding allocations is not available at parliamentary constituency level. The funding allocated to apprenticeships provision in Essex is provided in the following table. Local LSC funding data are only available from 2004-05.
| Essex LSC apprenticeships funding allocation | |
| £ million | |
| Apprenticeships funding allocation | |
| Source: Learning and Skills Council | |
Departmental Internet
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will introduce a search function on his Department's website. [211209]
Mr. Lammy: DIUS is currently working with our supplier to implement a basic search facility on our existing corporate website. In addition to this, we are undergoing a project to completely redesign and upgrade the technology of our website, which is an interim solution launched following the creation of DIUS last year. We aim to launch our new site, including more advanced search functionality, in the autumn.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will publish his Department's statistical releases on its website. [211210]
Mr. Lammy: In line with the new arrangements for the release of National Statistics following the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, all statistical first releases relating to National Statistics are released through the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) website
In addition, the Department's statistical releases are released on the joint Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) Research and Statistics Gateway website
contains a link to the Research and Statistics Gateway website.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |