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3 Feb 2009 : Column 1167W—continued
Further information on the one year rates of reoffending can be found in
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many serious further offences were committed by offenders under probation supervision in each (a) probation area and (b) parliamentary constituency in the last year for which data are available. [252845]
Mr. Straw: The Offender Management Caseload Statistics, which are published annually, provide data on serious further offences (SFOs) by offenders under probation supervision, as notified to the National Offender Management Service Public Protection Unit (PPU).
For the purposes of the notification process in force at the time of the offences listed in the table, an SFO was a specified sexual or violent offence, which met the criteria set out in Probation Circular 41/2006.
The following table shows, as at 20 January 2009, the number of convictions recorded to date for an SFO that was notified to the PPU between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008, by probation area:
| Area | SFO convictions |
As at 20 January 2009, there were 191 cases of offenders charged with a serious further offence during the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 still awaiting trial.
We do not hold information about the parliamentary constituency in which the relevant offenders were supervised. To obtain such information would require manual checking of files, which would incur disproportionate cost.
The number of SFO convictions is around 0.35 per cent. of the number of offenders being supervised in the community by the Probation Service.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the number of jobs in (a) his Department and (b) its shadow agencies which will be lost through natural wastage under his Department's financial plan for the Comprehensive Spending Review for 2008 to 2011. [252690]
Mr. Straw: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) is committed to delivering £1 billion of saving by March 2011 and establishing a modern and efficient justice system that delivers the best possible service to our customers and the public.
We are looking hard at the services the MOJ provides and finding new ways to improve how we deliver them while focusing on our frontline services. We are also driving out inefficiencies, overlap and duplication and reducing our overheads, especially in our headquarters areas.
Centrally we have estimated that for the MOJ as a whole (excluding the probation service) natural wastage will drop from around 10 per cent. in 2008-09 to 5 per cent. in 2009-10 and 2010-11, resulting in around 8,000 exits in 2008/09 and 4,000 a year for 2009/10 and 2010/11.
Detailed planning at agency level to estimate exits due to natural wastage, and determine which of these posts will be filled through redeployment or recruitment, is yet to be completed. The Department is consulting with the trade unions and will continue to do so as the plans develop.
Departmental Public Consultation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many members of the public took part in his Department's online discussion on greater citizen engagement; [252818]
(2) how many members of the public responded to his Department's consultation on a framework for greater citizen engagement; [252819]
(3) what the cost was of the consultation on a framework for greater citizen engagement. [252820]
Mr. Wills: A summary of responses to the discussion paper: “A National Framework for Greater Citizen Engagement” was published on the Ministry of Justice website on 8 January 2009.
27 written responses were received from engagement organisations and consultants, voluntary and community organisations, academics, local authorities and individuals. 22 people contributed to the online discussion. The summary report can be found at:
The framework was one of the topics for discussion at the five ‘townhall’ events on the wider governance Britain programme. The total cost of these events was £3,929.42.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish the results of his Department's consultation on bail and murder. [252830]
Mr. Straw: The Government response to the Bail and Murder Consultation was published on the Ministry of Justice website on 2 February 2009.
Mr. Grieve:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he will publish the results of his Department’s consultation on designation of additional public
authorities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [252847]
Mr. Wills: The public consultation on section 5 of the Freedom of Information Act concluded on 1 February 2008. The Government will publish their response to the section 5 public consultation by the summer.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish the results of his Department’s consultation on Titan prisons. [252946]
Mr. Straw: The Government plan to publish its response to the consultation before the end of the current financial year.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the 2008-09 near cash allocation to each of his Department's business groups was. [252822]
Mr. Straw: The following table sets out the near cash departmental expenditure limit (DEL) for MOJ business groups, as agreed in the Winter Supplementary Estimate. The Spring Supplementary Estimate, which contains the latest figures, is due to be published on February 10 2009.
| Business area | Winter supplementary numbers (£ million) |
Governance of Britain
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) Ministers, (b) officials, (c) representatives of local government, (d) invited members of the public and (e) other members of the public attended each Governance of Britain event. [252846]
Mr. Wills: The five “Governance of Britain” ‘townhall’ events held in summer 2008, were designed to engage active members of the local community in the Government’s constitutional renewal agenda with an aim of encouraging them to take the debate out to their community groups and organisations. The events were hosted by myself as Minister of State for Justice and were supported by Ministry of Justice officials who acted as facilitators and note takers. The information required for each event is set out in the following table.
| 2008 | |||||
| Bristol: 30 June | Nottingham: 9 July | Newcastle: 14 July | Brighton: 17 July | London: 22 July | |
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