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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1342W—continued
clinical services—alcohol detoxification is available in all local and remand prisons;
where alcohol is part of a wider substance misuse problem, the full range of drug interventions are available;
a number of prisons run alcohol awareness courses;
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) run groups in around 67 per cent. of prisons;
some offending behaviour programmes address the underlying factors which occur in alcohol related crime;
an accredited 12-step alcohol programme is being run at HMP Bullingdon;
four accredited intensive interventions are being run at HMP Hull. Forest Bank, Glen Parva and Chelmsford based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy;
for those prisons(ers) involved in the roll-out of the Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS) a 90 minute alcohol awareness session has been developed; and
the young persons substance misuse service for 16 to 18-year-old prisoners has a particular focus on alcohol.
The Ministry of Justice has established a Working Group to develop proposals to increase the provision of alcohol treatment available in prisons.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners are on courses dealing with drug and alcohol abuse. [247713]
Mr. Hanson: The number of interventions delivered in the last full financial year (2007-08) is shown in the following table. Individual prisoners will often receive more than one of these interventions.
| Intervention type | Interventions delivered 2007-08 |
| (1) Programmes available in prison are split into four main categories: cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), The 12-Step approach. Therapeutic Communities (TCs), Short Duration Programme (SDP) (2) Young People’s Substance Misuse Services—a specialist service for 15 to 17-year-olds (3) Drug and alcohol detoxification data cannot be disaggregated | |
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.
The National Offender Management Service does not collate figures on the number of prisoners accessing treatment services specifically aimed at their alcohol misuse.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many places on courses dealing with drug and alcohol abuse are available for serving prisoners in 2008-09. [247714]
Mr. Hanson: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has in place a comprehensive drug treatment framework, based on the National Treatment Agency’s revised Models of Care, to address the different needs of drug-misusers in prison. The interventions available are designed to meet the needs of low, moderate and severe drug misusers—irrespective of age, gender or ethnicity.
Delivery targets for 2008-09 are given in the following table.
Prisons have in place a range of interventions to support those with an alcohol problem.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not collate figures on the number of treatment places specifically for alcohol misuse.
Prisons: Mental Health Services
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what consideration he has given to the merits of recording prison psychological interviews using the same procedures which are in place for police interviews under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. [248329]
Mr. Hanson: Consideration has not been given to the routine recording of prison psychological interviews using the same procedures which are in place for police interviews under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The purpose of police interviews in gathering evidence for court and many psychological interviews (where the focus is on developing motivation and insight into offending behaviour and completing risk assessments) are different.
Prisons: Smuggling
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many prison officers have been (a) arrested and (b) convicted of smuggling goods into prison in each year since 1997; [247715]
(2) how many prison officers have been arrested whilst on duty at prisons in the last 12 months. [247717]
Mr. Hanson: All staff in the public sector prison service are expected to meet high standards of professional and personal conduct. Allegations of staff misconduct, which are potentially criminal in nature, are referred to the police for investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution.
The particular information requested in these questions is not held centrally. However, a breakdown of the information on the numbers of staff prosecuted for bringing drugs into a prison establishment in each of the last three years is shown as follows:
| Calendar year | Number of staff prosecuted |
| (1) Covers the period 1 January to 19 November 2008 | |
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps are being taken to reduce smuggling of goods into prisons. [247716]
Mr. Hanson: Governors deploy a comprehensive range of robust searching techniques and security measures as part of their individual searching strategies in order to detect drugs, mobile phones and other contraband and prevent smuggling into establishments.
With regard to drugs and mobile phones, the Government have accepted and are working towards implementing all recommendations contained within David Blakey’s report “Disrupting the supply of illicit drugs into prisons”.
Termination of Employment: Disclosure of Information
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many tribunal complaints have been received arising from protection from unfair dismissal afforded by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 in each year since its enactment; and if he will make a statement. [247815]
Bridget Prentice: The provisions introduced by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 protect most workers from being subjected to a detriment by their employer for making a protected disclosure of information in the public interest. Employees who are protected by the provisions may make a claim for unfair dismissal if they believe they have been dismissed for making a protected disclosure. Workers who are not employees may not claim unfair dismissal; however, if their contract has been terminated by the employer because they made a protected disclosure, they may instead make a complaint that they have been subjected to a detriment.
The following table details the number of claims accepted by the employment tribunal within the unfair dismissal category that contain an element of public interest disclosure. The figures for April to December 2008 are provisional and subject to change.
| Financial year | Single claims | Multiple claims( 1) | Total claims accepted |
| (1) A multiple is any two or more claims which arise from the same set of circumstances. It could therefore be two or more claims made by different individuals against the one respondent, or potentially two or more claims made by the same individual against the same respondent. The figures show the total number of claims that were accepted as multiples. | |||
Witnesses: Autism
John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in how many criminal cases involving a witness with an autistic spectrum disorder a witness intermediary has been used (a) by the police prior to a trial or to a decision whether to proceed to trial and (b) by the courts in England in 2008; and in how many such cases prosecutions have been successful. [247787]
Maria Eagle:
During 2008 13 referrals were made for the use of an intermediary where the witness’ communication needs fell under Autistic Spectrum Disorder. However data are not routinely collected as to the stage
in a case at which an intermediary was used, either by the police or at trial. Nor are data collected on the outcome of cases in which an intermediary is used.
Young Offender Institutions
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what additional funding was allocated to escort providers to reduce the number of late arrivals of juveniles at young offender institutions in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of this additional funding; [247746]
(2) what penalties apply to escort providers in cases where juveniles are delivered to young offender institutions after HM Prison Inspectorate's recommended latest delivery time of 7.00pm; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of these penalties. [247748]
Mr. Hanson: The contracts are funded to enable contractors to escort juvenile prisoners to young offender institutions by their stated closure times. No additional funding has been provided. Other factors such as the time juvenile prisoners are finished in court and the distances they travel to their destinations can delay their arrival.
Under the terms of the contract, performance measures are incurred by contractors if they fail to deliver prisoners to those young offender institutions that have stated closure times by those times and they are unable to demonstrate that the reasons for the failure were outside their control. The stated closure times vary from establishment to establishment. An assessment of the effectiveness of the performance measures relating to the escort of juvenile prisoners will be undertaken in March 2009 as part of a general review of performance measures. If appropriate, consideration will be given to enhancing the performance measures within the existing contracts.
Young Offenders: Offensive Weapons
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people under 18 years have been convicted of offences related to the carrying of a knife in the London Borough of Havering in each year since 1997; and what penalties were imposed on them. [247792]
Maria Eagle: Data showing the number of persons under 18-years-old convicted of offences related to the carrying of a knife in the Metropolitan police force area from 1997 to 2007 (latest published) and the penalties imposed on them are in the following table.
Data are not available below police force area, therefore we cannot supply data for the London borough of Havering.
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