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24 Mar 2009 : Column 319W—continued
| Establishment | Number of female IPPs/DPPs |
Prisoners Release
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many custodial sentences which terminated in each of the last five years had been reduced by virtue of the time spent by the convict on curfew while on remand. [265317]
Mr. Malik: The provisions allowing credit towards custodial sentences for periods of remand on bail while subject to an electronically monitored curfew were not implemented until 3 November 2008. There are no statistics in relation to the number of custodial sentences that have attracted curfew credit from which release has taken place since the implementation of the provisions.
Prisoners: Ex-servicemen
Mr. Garnier:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisons have a dedicated identification and support system for prisoners who have previously
served in the armed forces; and what forms such systems take in each prison. [265701]
Mr. Hanson: There is currently no national dedicated identification system for ex-servicemen held in custody, although there are areas of good practice, such as in the case of Everthorpe prison. This will change with the introduction of P—NOMIS IT system which contains specific data entry field for ex-service offenders and trials are underway. In the meantime, the offender assessment system (OASys) prompts an offender supervisor/manager to review an offender’s employment history, including military, and work related skills.
In terms of support systems in place, as part of the Veterans Prison In Reach initiative we are running an extensive cross departmental information campaign aimed at staff, offenders and their families on services available in conjunction with the ex-service charities. We also plan to conduct research to accurately assess the number of veterans in prison to better provide for their needs.
The Royal British Legion and Action for Prisoners’ Families are working together in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the families of offenders are made more aware of the help available to them and this is going to be a priority throughout 2009.
Prisoners: Pregnancy
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many pregnant women in each age group spent time in prison under sentence in each of the last 10 years. [264917]
Mr. Hanson: The Prison Service has only routinely kept information centrally on pregnant women in custody since April 2004.
Before November 2006 data were collected differently and information for April 2004 to October 2006 could be given only at disproportionate cost.
The number of pregnant women in each age group who have spent time in prison under sentence are as follows:
| Date | Pregnant under 18 sentenced | Pregnant 18-21 sentenced | Pregnant over 21 sentenced |
Deciding what sentences are appropriate for women offenders is rightly entirely a matter for the courts, but the Government agree that more must be done to ensure that custody is only used for those women who really need to be there.
The Government are keen to encourage greater use of community alternatives for women offenders wherever possible. We are committed to looking specifically at how to tackle women’s offending and addressing the adverse impact of imprisonment on women and their families, particularly their children.
Women in prison have a right to the same medical provision as women in the community and do not give birth in prison as a matter of course.
Prison Service Orders make specific provision for the needs of women prisoners who are pregnant or have young children with them in prison.
Prisoners: Women
Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many women in each age group spent time
in prison under sentence in each of the last 10 years. [264950]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the numbers of women prisoners held under sentence in all prison establishments in England and Wales as at 30 June in each year from 1997 to 2007:
| Females | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Small numbers of prisoners held in default of payment of a fine (e.g. six overall in June 2007) are included in these figures. | |||||||||||
These figures are taken from table 7.3 in the Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2007, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library, and which can also be found at the following website:
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisons: Standards
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison buildings have been assessed as non-compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 in each year since it entered into force. [265704]
Mr. Malik: No prison buildings have actually been assessed as non-compliant with the DDA. All new prisons constructed after the introduction of the DDA have been commissioned to be DDA compliant. However, we are aware that a number of prisons, being of Victorian or older design, offer some difficulties to prisoners with severe mobility issues. The policy is that prisoners with such difficulties should not be allocated to prisons which cannot provide the appropriate reasonable adjustments.
There is a process called the access survey which assesses what difficulties might be encountered with physical access to buildings and the work that is needed to address these difficulties. However, this information is used practically to inform local improvement work and is not collated centrally. It does not constitute an assessment of compliance with the DDA.
Repossession Orders
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many court orders have been issued for the repossession of homes in (a) England, (b) the North East, (c) Tees Valley district and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in the last 12 months. [265335]
Bridget Prentice: Figures for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency and Tees Valley are not available. However, the following table shows the number of possession orders made in England, Her Majesty’s Courts Service north east region and Teesside county court for each month in 2008.
The civil procedure rules state that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. However, geographical boundaries of county courts may not necessarily be consistent with other administrative or constituency boundaries. Repossession orders made at Teesside county court may therefore relate to properties in other areas besides Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency and Tees Valley.
These figures do not indicate how many homes have actually been repossessed. Repossessions can occur without a court order being made while not all court orders result in repossession.
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