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5 Feb 2009 : Column 1401W—continued
Courts: Prison Accommodation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions court cells were (a) made available for and (b) used for housing prisoners overnight in the last 12 months; and how many prisoners were accommodated on each occasion they were used. [252824]
Mr. Straw: Court cells were used on 21 nights between the nights of 5-6 and 28-29 February 2008. At any one time a maximum of 164 cells were available for use.
The following table shows the number of places used in each of five courts over this period. Court cells have not been used since 28-29 February 2008.
| Date | Total |
Cremation
Mr. Olner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will publish guidance to local authorities on (a) the length of time ashes should be retained by crematoria and (b) the methods to be used to dispose of ashes not claimed by the family of the deceased. [253654]
Bridget Prentice: We currently have no plans to issue guidance on these issues. Regulation 30 of the Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008, which came into force on 1 January, sets out the duties of cremation authorities in respect of the disposal of ashes. These are that the cremation authority must give the ashes to the applicant for cremation or someone nominated by the applicant for that purpose. If the applicant does not want the ashes and has not nominated anyone, the cremation authority must retain the ashes for burial or scattering within the crematorium grounds. The authority must not inter or scatter the ashes unless it has given 14 days’ notice of its intention to do so to the applicant.
Judicial Appointments Commission: Finance
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget of the Judicial Appointments Commission was in each of the last three years. [253584]
Maria Eagle: The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) was officially launched on 3 April 2006. The grant funding for JAC provided by Ministry of Justice in each of the last three years is as follows:
| £ 000 | |
The 2008-09 grant number is based upon the published winter supplementary estimate.
Prison Sentences
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the likely effect of the creation of a Sentencing Council on the level of the prison population in England and Wales. [253583]
Mr. Straw: The creation of a Sentencing Council has no direct impact on the prison population. This is because there is no requirement in the Coroners and Justice Bill for a sentencer in an individual case to have regard to resources. There is also no requirement in the Bill for the Council to produce guidelines that fit within resource constraints. A key new role of the Sentencing Council will however be to monitor and assess the impact that sentencing guidelines and other factors have, or are likely to have, on the prison population and probation service.
Prisoners: Voting Rights
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether prisoners on (a) end of custody licence, (b) release on temporary licence and (c) home detention curfew are eligible to vote if registered. [252817]
Mr. Straw: Prisoners who are detained in a penal institution are ineligible to vote in all UK elections under the terms of section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 and other related legislation. Prisoners are only granted temporary release for one of the purposes laid down in rule 9 of the Prison Rules 1999 or rule 5 of the Young Offender Institution Rules 2000. Voting is not included in those purposes who have been released from prison under the home detention curfew scheme are eligible to vote unless they are otherwise excluded by statute.
Prisons: Wind Power
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will commission research on the effect on (a) prison security, (b) the well being and health of prisoners and (c) the safety and health of prison staff from (i) noise from, (ii) vibrations from and (iii) movement of wind turbines sited close to prisons. [253819]
Mr. Hanson: The Departments for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, are responsible for Government policy on wind turbines and therefore for research about their impact on residential property and businesses in close proximity to them. The National Offender Management Service already reviews the security implications of wind turbines sited close to prisons and will conduct appropriate health and safety risk assessments on wind turbines that are already in place.
Victims’ Champion: Finance
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the budget of the Victims’ Champion is for the term of the appointment. [253586]
Mr. Straw: £60,000 for this calendar year.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many additional helicopters have been delivered to forces in Afghanistan as a result of the UK-French Helicopter Fund announced at the March 2008 Franco-British Summit. [254419]
Mr. Hutton: Nations benefiting from the Helicopter Fund will start to deploy helicopters to Afghanistan in September this year. By mid-2010 we anticipate that the first three nations to use the fund to support their theatre-entry equipment and training requirements will have deployed eight helicopters to Afghanistan. Furthermore, three other nations that are considering deploying helicopters to Afghanistan for the first time have made informal enquiries about how the fund may be used to help with the procurement of mission-essential equipment.
Armed Forces: Labour Turnover
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of personnel who left the armed forces in each year since 2002 had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. [253719]
Mr. Quentin Davies [holding reply 3 February 2009]: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Training
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) original and (b) revised estimate of the value of defence estates to be sold under package 1 of the Defence Training Review was. [253094]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The Department is continuing to seek planning consents for the proposed sale of the sites programmed to be sold under the current Metrix deal for Defence Training Review Package 1. Anticipated values rise and fall according to market conditions and are continually reviewed in line with HM Treasury guidance. Surplus sites are planned to be sold at market value from 2012 onwards. I am withholding the anticipated values as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests. There is no direct relationship between their disposal and affordability of the Package 1 Project.
Central Africa: Peacekeeping Operations
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which EU member states are contributing to the EU military mission to Chad and the Central African Republic; and what each is contributing. [253363]
Mr. Quentin Davies: The majority of EU member states are contributing to EUFOR TCHAD/RCA. The specific contribution of other EU member states is a matter for them. Further information on EUFOR TCHAD/RCA can be found on the website of the Council of the European Union:
The UK is providing four military officers under standing EU headquarters augmentation procedures as part of the operation: two officers in the operation HQ at Mont Valerien in Paris and two officers in the force HQ in Chad. There is also one British staff officer attached to the French NATO Rapid Deployment Corps which France has recently deployed to Chad.
Cyprus: Military Bases
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British troops have been stationed in the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in each year since 2002. [252911]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: A breakdown of figures for the two sovereign areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia is not available. The following table shows the total number of UK service personnel stationed in Cyprus as at 1 April each year:
| Total in Cyprus | |
| (1 )Data not available. (2 )Provisional due to on-going validation of data. | |
Location statistics between 2003 and 2004 were suspended due to concerns over data quality.
Data for 2002 include deployed and stationed personnel; from 2005 onwards data are for stationed personnel only.
The UK regular forces stationed location figures are available in UKDS. The latest published figures are available at:
http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index.php?page=48&;thiscontent=1610&date=2008-10-01&pubType=1&PublishTime=09:30:00&from=home&tabOption=3
EU Battlegroups
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to paragraph 107 of the Explanatory Memorandum of 11 December 2008 on the French Presidency Report on European Security and Defence Policy, European Union Document No. 16686/08, whether the generic preparation guide for EU battlegroups uses NATO standardisation agreements. [254420]
Mr. Hutton: 26 EU member states are also members of NATO or NATO Partnership for Peace and therefore use NATO standardisation agreements. The EU battlegroup preparation guide stipulates that
“EU Battlegroup evaluation procedures and standards should, where applicable, be analogous to those defined within NATO, taking into account the specific nature of EU crisis management”
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to paragraph 107 of the Explanatory Memorandum of 11 December 2008 on the French Presidency Report on European Security and Defence Policy, European Union Document No. 16686/08, whether the British armed forces will use the generic preparations guide for EU battlegroups; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the guide. [254423]
Mr. Hutton: The UK contributed to the formulation of the generic preparations guide for EU battlegroups that was agreed under the French presidency for use on a voluntary basis by EU member states in accordance with the battlegroup concept. The UK's contributions to the EU's battlegroup roster are prepared and certified nationally to standards that meet and exceed the ones set out in this and other documents agreed by the council. I will place a copy of the guide in the Library of the House.
EU Rapid Reaction Force
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which components of the UK's commitment to the Helsinki Headline Goal comprise an (a) armed mechanical brigade and (b) amphibious brigade. [253368]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The United Kingdom currently offers:
Three brigades from the army to HG2010. The three brigades offer a degree of flexibility that allows the UK to provide either an Armoured Brigade (based on Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks), a Mechanised Brigade (based on Saxon Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks) or an Air Assault Brigade consisting of lightly equipped infantry in the Air Manoeuvre role.
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