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16 Mar 2009 : Column 964W—continued

The number of reported self-harm incidents in YOIs⁽²⁾ and resulting hospital visits, involving juveniles and young adults, are detailed in the following table.

^{(2 )}These figures refer to incidents of deliberate self-harm in single-function young offender or juvenile institutions only. They exclude any data from dual-function establishments with official young offender roles.

	Young people incidents (15-18 yrs)	Juvenile hospital visits	Hospital visits as a percentage of incidents	Young adult incidents (18-20 yrs)	Young adult hospital visits	Hospital visits as a percentage of incidents
2006	631	17	3	1,263	61	5
2007	438	11	3	1,208	79	7
2008	631	13	2	1,142	65	6

Witnesses: Human Rights

Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the implications for rules relating to evidence and witnesses of the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Al-Khawaja and Tahery v the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [263147]

Mr. Straw: We are considering the implications of this judgment and whether or not to request a referral to the Grand Chamber.

Young Offenders: Merseyside

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1219W, what the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in Merseyside was in the latest period for which information is available. [262945]

Mr. Hanson: Overall statistics on persistent young offenders (PYOs) for England and Wales and the Merseyside police force area are available from 1997 to 2007.

These figures are designed to measure the speed and efficiency of the youth justice system, through monitoring the pledge to halve the average time from arrest to sentence for dealing with PYOs in England and Wales from 142 days in 1996 to 71 days. They are not designed to measure overall trends in youth crime, and will give a misleading picture of the true trend if used for this purpose.

On 10 December 2008, the Secretary of State for Justice announced in a written ministerial statement that the PYO pledge would be dropped with effect from the end of 2008. This is therefore the last year for which PYO statistics will be published and compiled.

The following table shows the average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders in England and Wales and Merseyside in each year from 1997.

Average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders
	England and Wales		Merseyside police force area
	Number of cases heard	Average interval (days)	Number of cases heard	Average interval (days)
1997	16,010	141	695	153
1998	18,605	125	726	138
1999	21,151	108	773	116
2000	23,131	95	820	111
2001	25,393	76	966	91
2002	26,116	68	999	65
2003	26,086	66	1,016	81
2004	26,363	69	1,046	82
2005	27,037	68	835	75
2006	28,252	72	797	65
2007	30,683	65	955	63
2008	28,834	57	624	53

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) publishes the data in the table as National Statistics. Further information on persistent young offenders can be found on the dedicated page of the MOJ website:

www.justice.gov.uk/publications/averagetime arresttosentencepyo.htm

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1193W, on young offenders, how many young offenders have been placed on the
16 Mar 2009 : Column 965W
intensive supervision and surveillance programme (ISSP) in Merseyside since 2001; and what assessment his Department has made of the comparative (a) costs and (b) re-offending rates arising from (i) ISSP sentences and (ii) custodial sentences. [262946]

Mr. Hanson: A total of 1,294 young offenders have been placed on the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance programme (ISSP) since the programme commenced in Merseyside in July 2001. A detailed breakdown by year and youth offending team in the Merseyside area is provided in the tables.

The cost of ISSP varies from region to region but the Youth Justice Board use an average cost of £8,250 per head. The average annual cost per custodial place at 1 April 2008 is:

16 Mar 2009 : Column 966W

	Average annual cost per custodial place (£)
Secure Children’s Homes	210,610.46
Secure Training Centres	156,167.59
Young Offender Institutions	57,015.44

The Ministry of Justice publishes reoffending data based on disposal and this is available at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/reoffending juveniles.htm

ISSP can be attached to a number of community sentences, to the supervision part of a detention and training order, on release from custody imposed for a serious offence or attached as a bail requirement. It is not possible to identify ISSP separately from centrally available data.

	Bail	CRO( 1)	SO( 2)	SO/CRO ff bail ISSP( 3)	DTO( 4)	Sec 90-92( 5)	Total
July 2001 to March 2003
St. Helens, Knowsley, Sefton	15	0	29	0	9	0	53
Liverpool	15	0	39	0	6	0	60
Wirral	32	2	26	0	1	0	61
	62	2	94	0	16	0	174
2003-04
St. Helens, Knowsley, Sefton	32	0	32	0	8	—	72
Liverpool	51	0	61	0	5	—	117
Wirral	25	0	27	0	4	—	56
	108	0	120	0	17	—	245
2004-05
Knowsley, St. Helens and Sefton	25	0	23	0	8	0	56
Liverpool	20	1	60	1	24	0	106
Wirral	24	0	28	0	10	0	62
	69	1	111	1	42	0	224
2005-06
Knowsley, St. Helens and Sefton	35	0	17	0	8	0	60
Liverpool	26	0	42	5	40	2	115
Wirral	11	0	21	0	9	0	41
	72	0	80	5	57	2	216
2006-07
Knowsley, St. Helens and Sefton	53	0	32	4	19	0	108
Liverpool	25	0	27	4	20	4	80
Wirral	30	0	18	0	9	0	57
	108	0	77	8	48	4	245
2007-08
Knowsley	13	0	11	2	7	0	33
Liverpool	21	1	35	2	22	1	82
Sefton	6	0	8	0	0	0	14
St. Helens	9	0	3	1	6	0	19
Wirral	17	0	16	2	7	0	42
	66	1	73	7	42	1	190
Total ISSP in Merseyside since 2001	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,294
(1 )Community Rehabilitation Order (2 )Supervision Order (3 )SO/CRO ISSP given after young offender has completed bail ISSP (4 )Detention and Training Order (ISSP applied after release from custody) (5 )Custodial sentence for most serious offences (ISSP applied after release from custody)

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