| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Jun 2008 : Column 1001W—continued
Bridget Prentice:
In accordance with the rules governing reviews of parliamentary constituencies, set out in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, the boundary commissions for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will base their recommendations on the number of electors on the electoral register at the start of the review. The Government agreed in their response to the Committee on Standards in Public Life’s Eleventh report, “Review of the Electoral Commission”, that it would be appropriate to review the current legislation in
relation to the conduct of parliamentary boundary work. Any review is likely to consider the issue raised by the hon. Member.
Parc Prison: Foreigners
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 12 May 2008, Official Report, column 1292W, on Parc Prison: mental health services, how many foreign nationals remained in custody in Parc Prison after the expiration of their sentences in each of the last 12 months. [211485]
Mr. Hanson: Information on the number of foreign national detainees that remained in custody at HMP and YOI Parc after their sentence had expired, for each of the last eight months, is provided in the following table. A total of eight detainees have been held past their sentence expiry date. Information prior to November 2007 is not recorded and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
| Detainees | |
| (1 )Provided as at 9 June 2008. | |
Personal Injury: Compensation
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to implement the changes to the personal injury compensation system which were published in April 2007. [211276]
Bridget Prentice: A summary of responses and the Government's next steps will be set out in the “Response to Consultation: Case track limits and the claims process for personal injury claims”, which will be published as soon as possible.
Press
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the cost of the press offices of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies were for each year from 1996-97 to 2007-08; what the cost was for each quarter since 1 April 2007; and if he will make a statement; [189663]
(2) how many press office staff were employed by (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies (i) in each year since 1996-97 and (ii) at the latest date for which information is available. [189664]
Mr. Straw: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The Office of the Public Guardian is an agency of the MOJ, formed on 1 October 2007, replacing the Public Guardianship Office which was also an agency. Neither office has ever had a Press Office or press officers. Work is handled by the MOJ Press Office.
The Boundary Commission for England is an advisory non-departmental public body sponsored by MOJ. It does not have a press office and all queries are dealt with by its Secretariat.
The Boundary Commission for Wales does not have a Press Office nor a designated Press Officer at the Boundary Commission for Wales. The total annual cost of the Press Office for BCW has been therefore nil for each year since 2001 (prior to this the work of the BCW was administered by the Boundary Commission for England).
The JAC began operation in April 2006. From April 2006 to September 2007 the JAC employed a communications advisor whose role included a 20 per cent. element of press work. The function is now shared as part of other roles within the JAC Communications team and accounts for about 20 per cent. of the time of one grade 7 officer and 10 per cent. of a senior information officer.
Information regarding cost of Press Offices and numbers of press officers from agencies and NDPBs has been supplied by the individual organisations to the fullest extent possible, with regard to the historical nature of the question.
With regard to the Ministry of Justice entry, prior to 2006-07, Press Office finances were recorded as part of the overall Communications Directorate budget. Therefore, specific Press Office costs prior to 2006-07 are unavailable. Press Office headcount figures prior to 2006-07 are unavailable.
Probation Board
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will request the Probation Board to engage in negotiations on pay, terms and conditions with its staff representatives. [211219]
Maria Eagle:
The Probation Association representing the 42 employing probation boards and trusts are in negotiation with NAPO and Unison through the established forum of the National Probation Service National Negotiating Council the latest meeting of which is being held on 12 June. Negotiators are trying to agree an award that is acceptable to both the employers and the trade unions. This year's pay round follows on a
three year pay modernisation programme that saw substantial increases in the pay of probation staff .
Sexual Offences
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people in England were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of serious sexual assault in each of the last three years, broken down by region; [211336]
(2) how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted of (i) assault and (ii) sexual assault on teachers in England in each of the last three years, broken down by region; [211344]
(3) how many people in England were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of serious sexual assault in each of the last three years, broken down by region. [211352]
Maria Eagle: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to serious sexual assault, in England and Wales by region, for the years 2004 to 2006 can be viewed in the following table.
Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on prosecutions and convictions does not include details on the victim of a crime. It is therefore not possible to supply data showing the number of people prosecuted and convicted of assault and sexual assault on teachers.
Court proceedings data held by the Ministry of Justice does not hold information on details surrounding a case such as the profession of the victim.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
Young Offender Institutions: Social Services
Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many social workers are employed inside juvenile prisons. [211360]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families currently funds 20 social worker posts within young offender institutions. 15 of these posts are currently filled and five are vacant. Measures are being taken to fill these vacancies.
Defence
Absent Without Leave
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many personnel went absent without leave in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq in each year since 2003; [211969]
(2) how many armed forces personnel went absent without leave in each year since 2003. [211977]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The following table shows absence without leave statistics by calendar year for each service since 2003:
| RN | Army | RAF | |
| Notes: 1. All services record AWOL statistics by the number of incidences of AWOL rather than the number of people who have gone AWOL, so there may be a number of people who are represented more than once in these figures. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest five and are as at 16 June 2008. 3, Differences in figures for individual years compared to previous answers occur because personnel may have been wrongly reported as AWOL in the first instance, or conversely they may have subsequently been found to have been AWOL and the records rectified later. | |||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |