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21 Oct 2008 : Column 224W—continued
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners released in 2007 had served less than half of their custodial sentence. [228163]
Maria Eagle: No data are yet available on discharges from prison in 2007. The latest available data are for 2006. In 2006, 78,500 prisoners were released from prison of whom 13,666 were released earlier than the halfway point of their sentence under the Home Detention Curfew scheme. A number of foreign national prisoners subject to deportation would also have been removed early under the early removal scheme but figures on this for 2006 are not available. All other prisoners were discharged on or after the half way point of the sentence depending on the statutory release arrangements that applied to them.
Prisoners: Education
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners gained (a) GCSEs, (b) A-levels, (c) NVQs and (d) other qualifications while in custody in each of the last five years. [228962]
Mr. Hanson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the then Minister of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Bill Rammell) to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 31 March 2008, Official Report, columns 595-98W, for a detailed breakdown of qualifications achieved by prisoners over the age of 18. Information on qualifications achieved by prisoners under the age of 18, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Children, Young People and Families (Beverley Hughes) on 21 May 2008, Official Report, column 362W, to the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Burrowes).
Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information and guidance is available to users of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal whose cases will be taken forward under the new system after 3 November 2008. [227573]
Bridget Prentice: The Special Educational Needs Appeal booklet and the Disability Discrimination Act claim booklet are currently being revised; both will be available before 3 November. Guidance is also being drafted for the case management hearings and will be sent out when a case is acknowledged.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the changes to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal on users who have an autism spectrum disorder. [227575]
Bridget Prentice: This group of service users need extra and expert support under the current regulations for the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. Panels who deal with these service users deploy specialist experience and great skill in facilitating their presentation and participation to achieve balance, fairness and appropriate outcomes for the child who is the subject of the appeal. The judiciary with input from the Special User Group, which has included the National Autistic Society, have taken the needs of this user group into account in the development of the forms and processes resulting from the new Health, Education and Social Care Rules, and the accompanying Practice Directions.
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information is available to advocacy groups and other groups providing support to families using the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal about the changes to the Tribunal taking place after 3 November 2008. [227577]
Bridget Prentice: Current guidance on how to appeal or make a claim, the Special Educational Needs Appeal booklet and the Disability Discrimination Act claim booklet, are both being revised. They will be available before 3 November. Guidance will be drafted for the case management hearings. In addition we are undertaking comprehensive training in November of all users.
Warrants: Council Tax
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) liability orders and (b) warrants of commitment were issued in respect of council tax arrears in each region of England and Wales in each of the last 10 years. [228121]
Bridget Prentice: Information on the number of liability orders is not held centrally on Ministry of Justice systems. It could be provided by contacting each magistrates court and manually collating only at a disproportionate cost.
The following table shows the number of people who were received in England and Wales prison establishments having been committed for non-payment of council tax (or community charge) in each year from 1997 to 2006. This is the most recent 10-year period for which published statistics are available. It is not possible to break down these figures by region.
| Number of prison receptions | |
| Source: Ministry of Justice report “Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2006”, table 7.10 | |
It is likely that the numbers of warrants of commitment issued in respect of council tax arrears are higher than the numbers of people received in prison, as shown in this table. This is because it is possible for an individual to avoid being conveyed to prison by repaying arrears promptly and in full once a warrant of commitment is issued in their name.
Whitemoor Prison: Homicide
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many attempted murders have taken place at HMP Whitemoor in each of the last three years. [227776]
Mr. Hanson: In the last three years no prisoner at Whitemoor has been charged by the police with the criminal offence of attempted murder.
Whitemoor Prison: Prisoners Release
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been released early under the Government's early release scheme from HMP Whitemoor in the last 12 months. [227785]
Mr. Hanson: There have been no prisoners released from Whitemoor prison under the end of custody licence (ECL) scheme in the 12 month period up to the end of end of August 2008, the latest period for which data are available.
Data for all prisons are published monthly, in the statistical bulletin End of Custody Licence releases and recalls, available from the Library of the House and the Ministry of Justice website at the following address:
Whitemoor Prison: Working Hours
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of staff working shifts was in each of the last three years at HMP Whitemoor. [227779]
Mr. Hanson: Unified grades are contracted to work a 39 hour week, over a period of five days. The average length of a contracted shift is therefore seven hours and 48 minutes.
Staff at Whitemoor also have the option to work “Payment Plus” and many have taken the option to do so.
Payment Plus is a system of working additional hours over and above conditioned hours and attracts an enhanced rate of pay.
To calculate the effect of Payment Plus hours on the average shift length would involve considerable disproportionate cost.
Young Offenders: Sentencing
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 1035W, on young offenders, what the average length of sentence was for young offenders convicted for offences involving (a) violence against a person, (b) burglary, (c) robbery, (d) sexual offences and (e) illegal drugs where a custodial sentence was handed down in 2005. [228891]
Maria Eagle: The requested information is contained in the following table.
Statistics are provided on a calendar year basis for 2005.
| Average length of immediate custodial sentence( 1) for various offence groups by age group, all courts, England and Wales, 2005 | |||
| Average length of sentence (months) | |||
| Age group | |||
| Offence description | Juveniles—10 to 17-year-olds | Young adults—18 to 20-year-olds | 10 to 20-year-olds |
| (1) Months: excludes life and indeterminate sentences. Principal offence basis. Note: 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. Source: OMS Analytical Services | |||
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing: Insulation
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities in (a) England and (b) the East Midlands have budgeted for insulation improvements to their housing stock in 2008-09. [227547]
Mr. Iain Wright [holding answer 16 October 2008]: Data on local authority budgeted capital spend are provided through the Business Plan Statistical Appendix. The returns for the financial year 2007-08, which contain the budget data for 2008-09, are expected to be published in November 2008.
The latest Business Plans by which local authorities provide the Department with such data give budgeted spend for 2007-08. For that year out of 205 local authorities who still owned council housing, 142 indicated they planned some spend on insulation activity during 2007-08. Five authorities did not provide data on this question.
In the East Midlands 16 out of 32 local authorities owning council housing planned some spend on insulation activity during 2007-08.
Departmental NDPBs
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding has been agreed with each of her Department’s non-departmental bodies for the period 2008 to 2011. [228669]
Mr. Khan: The Department currently sponsors 11 executive non-departmental public bodies, as follows:
| Website | |
I refer the hon. Gentlemen to bodies’ websites via the links in the table. Available information on funding may be found in documents such as the bodies’ corporate or business plans.
Eco-Towns
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether she or her Ministers will agree to meet members of the public from each selected eco-town site to discuss the relevant eco-town proposal; and if she will make a statement; [227541]
(2) what meetings she and the Minister of State for Housing have had on eco-towns since the latter's appointment; and if she will make a statement. [227349]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 308W. There have been no further visits to eco-town locations since the Housing Minister's recent appointment on 3 October. My right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) and I met residents from areas affected by eco-towns in the House on 30 June 2008.
Empty Property
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty houses suitable for occupation there were in each region in England in 2007-08. [227988]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information on empty houses suitable for occupation is not held centrally.
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