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19 Mar 2009 : Column 1286W—continued
The expenditure figures shown in this table include invoiced travel by all employees of the Department.
Train fares can also be reimbursed for staff on official business through travel and subsistence claims. These are posted to the finance system as miscellaneous travel expenses but the isolation of staff costs for train travel would involve a manual investigation of payment vouchers and travel and subsistence claims which could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.
The Department advises that, before any business related journey is made, each member of staff should take into account the most cost effective means of transport, for example mileage costs and car parking. The Northern Ireland Office keeps the cost of travel on official business under regular review.
Veterans Day: Northern Ireland
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to hold events in Northern Ireland to mark Veterans Day on 27 June 2009. [264780]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I have been asked to reply.
A number of local communities within Northern Ireland have plans to hold Armed Forces Day (previously known as Veterans Day) events on or around 27 June 2009 including Carrickfergus, Ballymena and Bangor. The Ministry of Defence (Armed Forces Day Project Team) will be providing organisers of these events with financial assistance in the form of a grant to support their events where these meet the MOD's requirements for promoting the day.
Justice
Community Justice Centres
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what percentage of defendants attending Salford Community Justice Centre have (a) re-offended and (b) complied with their sentence since the centre opened; [262559]
(2) what percentage of defendants attending the Community Justice Centre in North Liverpool have (a) re-offended and (b) complied with their sentence since the centre opened; [262560]
(3) what assessment he has made of the effects of the pilot Community Justice Centre in Liverpool and the Salford Community Justice initiative on sentencing; [262561]
(4) what assessment he has made of the effects of the pilot Community Justice Centre in Liverpool and the Salford Community Justice initiative had on (a) public perceptions of the criminal justice system and (b) the re-offending rate; [262562]
(5) what the re-offending rates have been from the community court schemes in (a) Salford and (b) Liverpool; [262649]
(6) what the attendance rate by the accused (a) at court in England and Wales and (b) at each individual community justice court was for the most recent period for which information is available; [262650]
(7) how many qualitative evaluation reports of (a) the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre and (b) Salford Community Justice Centre he has received; [262651]
(8) where each of the community justice courts in England and Wales is located. [262652]
Mr. Straw: The latest adult reoffending statistics for England and Wales, ‘Reoffending of adults: results from the 2006 cohort', were published on 4 September 2008. These indicate that there has been significant success in reducing reoffending. Between 2000 and 2006 the number of offences committed by offenders commencing court orders under probation supervision has fallen 23.4 per cent. from 158.8 to 121.7 offences per 100 offenders.
Reoffending data for North Liverpool and Salford are not yet available due to the need for a large number of sentenced offenders (where enough time has elapsed since the sentence was given to measure reoffending) and time to collect the data. Data on the compliance with all sentences for the Salford Community Justice Initiative are not available for similar reasons.
Data on compliance with sentences for the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre are not available for similar reasons. However, anecdotal information published in an evaluation of the key components of the centre, published in October 2007, reported that
staff at the centre perceived that the increase in support and the offenders' enhanced sense of accountability had improved compliance.
To date no assessment has been made of the effects of the Community Justice Centre in North Liverpool and the Salford Community Justice initiative on sentencing.
Evidence of public perceptions of the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in North Liverpool was published in October 2007 as part of a survey of local residents over the period June 2005 to January 2007. This showed that although confidence in the CJS had decreased, it had not dropped as sharply as confidence in the CJS recorded by the British Crime Survey for Merseyside as a whole over the same period. This suggests that the centre had helped to increase confidence locally so that the decline was not as large as it was in other areas. There has been no assessment of the effects of the Salford Community Justice initiative on public perceptions of the CJS.
The Criminal Statistics Annual Report published by the Ministry of Justice for 2007, gives the percentage of defendants bailed to attend magistrates' courts, who then failed to appear as 11 per cent. Attendance rates data are not available for the North Liverpool and Salford community justice projects.
The Ministry of Justice published three evaluation reports in October 2007. These were a qualitative evaluation of the key components of North Liverpool, a qualitative evaluation of the implementation of the Salford project, and the results of a survey, carried out in three waves over time, of the perception of local residents in North Liverpool. There are no evaluations or assessments of the 11 newer projects.
The 13 community justice courts in England and Wales are located at Birmingham, Bradford, Plymouth, Hull, Leicester, Merthyr Tydfil, Middlesbrough (Teesside Magistrates' Court), Nottingham, North Liverpool, Salford, and three locations in London, Haringey, Newham (Stratford Magistrates' Court) and Wandsworth (South Western Magistrates' Court).
Magistrates' Courts: Northern Ireland
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the running costs for (a) Bangor and (b) Limavady Magistrates' Court have been in each of the last five years. [264187]
Bridget Prentice: The running costs for (a) Bangor and (b) Limavady magistrates court in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
| £ | |||||
| Year ended 3 March | |||||
| Location | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the costs of Magherafelt Magistrates' Court were in each of the last five years. [264418]
Bridget Prentice: The running costs for Magherafelt magistrates court in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
| Magherafelt | |
| Year ended 31 March | £ |
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases have been brought before Larne Magistrates' Court in each of the last five years. [264419]
Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the court business (both criminal and civil) brought before Larne magistrates court in each of the last five years.
| Adult defendants | Youth defendants | Civil applications | |
| (1) January to November. Provisional figures. Full year validated figures for 2008 are net yet available. | |||
Scotland
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2009, Official Report, column 502W, on departmental training, what the (a) Presentation and Public Speaking Skills and (b) Introduction Workshop for New Ministers course cost; and which Ministers attended each. [260391]
Ann McKechin: The two courses attended by Scotland Office Ministers in the period concerned were attended to enable Ministers to carry out their duties effectively in line with the Ministerial Code. The total cost of the courses was £2,316.85.
Identifying Ministers who undertake training would, or would be likely to, discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for Ministers to undertake formal professional development.
Departmental Public Appointments
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information his Department holds on the number of persons appointed to executive positions in bodies for which his Department has responsibility in the last five years who previously had careers in the banking industry. [261224]
Ann McKechin: Information on the number of persons who previously had careers in the banking industry in the last five years and were appointed to executive positions in bodies for which my office has responsibility is not held centrally.
Performing Arts
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his Department has engaged any (a) actors, (b) musicians and (c) other performers to support its initiatives over the last five years. [264051]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office has engaged musicians on two occasions in the past five years. No actors or other performers have been engaged.
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing: Rents
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 6 March 2009, Official Report, columns 71-72WS, on local authority rents, whether an impact assessment has been prepared in relation to the proposals. [263037]
Mr. Iain Wright: No impact assessment was made. Impact assessments are not routinely undertaken in setting the annual housing revenue account subsidy determination as the exercise operates on a notional basis.
Local authorities are responsible for setting their own rents, having regard to the HRA subsidy determination, local resources and affordability issues.
Departmental Redundancy
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 26 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1511-12W, on redundancy, how many staff left her Department under staff exit schemes with a severance package worth (a) between £100,000 and £125,000, (b) between £125,001 and £150,000, (c) between £150,001 and £200,000, (d) between £200,001 and £250,000, (e) between £250,001 and £500,000, (f) between £500,001 and £1,000,000 and (g) over £1,000,000 in each year since 2005-06. [264304]
Mr. Khan: The following table shows further analysis of packages for the 18 packages of over £100,000:
| Number undertaking exit schemes by compensation lump sum amounts over £100,000 | |||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
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