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31 Mar 2009 : Column 1062W—continued
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many requests for Central Clearing House advice on freedom of information requests have been received in each quarter since January 2005; what information his Department holds on such requests; what procedures are in place to request central clearance; whether any changes have been made to such procedures since the Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into force; and who within his Department is responsible for providing Central Clearing House advice; [267797]
(2) how many responses to requests to his Department for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been delayed because of consideration of the public interest test in each year since the Act's entry into force; and how many such requests have subsequently been refused on the basis of a ministerial certification under section 36 of the Act; [267801]
(3) how many meetings have taken place between the Information Commissioner's Office and his Department since 1 January 2008; and what records his Department holds of the matters discussed at each meeting; [267802]
(4) how many requests for decision notices under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Information Commissioner's Office has received in each year since the entry into force of the Act; how
many have been determined; how many have been (a) withdrawn and (b) not progressed to a formal decision notice; and how many remain outstanding; [267803]
(5) how many requests to the Information Commissioner's Office for decision notices under section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been made in respect of (a) his Department and (b) its predecessor; how many have resulted in the issue of decision notices; and how many requests remain outstanding; [267804]
(6) how many staff at each grade in his Department work in its Information Directorate; how many such staff work in its Data Access and Compliance Unit; what changes in the personnel of (a) that unit and (b) any other unit undertaking such work there have been since January 2007; and what the reason for each change was; [267805]
(7) what information his Department holds on the intervention by the Information Commissioner in March 2008 in respect of handling of freedom of information requests by his Department; and what steps have been taken as a consequence; [267806]
(8) whether any officials from Government departments have been seconded to the Information Commissioner's Office to assist with casework. [267952]
Mr. Wills: I will write to the hon. Member when I am in a position to do so and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which (a) agencies and (b) programmes in his Department are to have a real terms reduction in their budget for 2008-09. [242163]
Maria Eagle: As part of the Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) Performance and Efficiency programme, committed to delivering £1 billion of saving by March 2011, real terms reductions have been made to the budgets of three of our agencies in 2008-09 as set out in Table 1 as follows. Table 2 demonstrates the estimated change in resource departmental expenditure limits for the National Offender Management Service. Regrettably it is not possible to provide a breakdown of spending levels for all initiatives that might be classified as programmes, as this would result in a disproportionate cost burden.
The 2008-09 budgets quoted in Table 1 and Table 2 represent the resource DEL position as per the spring supplementary estimates, published on 12 February 2009. The 2007-08 budgets are end of year figures.
| Table 1: Change in agency resource departmental expenditure limits (RDEL) | |||||
| MoJ Agencies | Final 2007-08 budget (RDEL) (£000) | Final 2008-09 budget (RDEL) (£000) | HMT GDP deflator (December 2008) (£000) | Deflated 2008-09 budget (£000) | Real terms increase (Percentage) |
| Table 2: Estimated change in resource departmental expenditure limits (RDEL) for NOMS group (excluding non departmental public bodies—Youth Justice Board and Parole Board) | |||||
| MoJ Agencies | Final 2007-08 budget (RDEL) (£000) | Final 2008-09 budget (RDEL) (£000) | HMT GDP deflator (December 2008) (£000) | Deflated 2008-09 budget (£000) | Real terms increase (Percentage) |
| Note. Although the NOMS group existed as part of MoJ in 2007-08, it was created as an agency in 2008-09 following re-organisation within the MoJ. Therefore, the figures for NOMS centre, (which includes expenditure met centrally on local services as well as HQ) for 2008-09, are not comparable with the figure for 2007-08 due to these machinery of Government changes. | |||||
Departmental Surveys
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many staff of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law directorate responded to the questions in its recent staff survey on (a) the chance of getting their views heard, (b) putting their priorities on the agenda, (c) identifying things most important to them and (d) identifying thoughts on how the directorate could be a great place to work; [267795]
(2) how many staff in his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law directorate have legal qualifications; and how many are qualified (a) solicitors and (b) barristers in England and Wales; [267796]
(3) how many staff of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate there are at each (a) Senior Civil Service and (b) other Civil Service pay band; [267798]
(4) how many personnel work in the Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate of his Department; how many have (a) joined and (b) left the Directorate since its creation; and how many are expected to leave in the next 12 months; [267799]
(5) what the pay band was of each member of his Department's Democracy, Constitution and Law Directorate who attended its awayday on 29 September 2008; which senior managers in the Directorate attended; where the awayday took place; what the cost to his Department of the awayday was; and what priorities for the Directorate have been set (a) consequent upon and (b) subsequent to the event; [267800]
(6) how many celebratory lunches the Permanent Secretary has hosted for staff of his Department since its establishment; on which date each such event was held; where each such event was held; who attended each such event; what the cost was of (a) hosting and (b) staff attendance at each such event; and whether staff attendance at each such event was regarded as part of the normal duties of such staff; [267898]
(7) how performance against the critical success factor in paragraph 3.1 of his Department's current business model is monitored; and what steps are taken against his Department's staff in circumstances where the standards required under this factor are not met. [267949]
Mr. Wills: I will write to the hon. Member when I am in a position to do so and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Driving Offences: Motorcycles
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many motorcyclists were prosecuted for riding after their compulsory basic training had lapsed in each of the last 18-months for which figures are available. [267709]
Maria Eagle: The offence of riding motorcycles after compulsory basic training (CBT) has lapsed cannot be separately identified, on the court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice, from similar offences whereby a person drives on a road a motor vehicle of any class otherwise than in accordance with a licence (section 87 Road Traffic Act 1988).
National Offender Management Service: Consultants
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average daily rate paid by his Department to consultants provided by ASE Consulting Ltd was in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008; and what equivalent daily rate was paid for such consultants engaged by the National Offender Management Service in each year. [266417]
Mr. Straw: Disclosing the information requested would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of both the contractor in question and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) because the information requested would (a) give the contractor's competitors a significant indication of their contract pricing mechanisms that could compromise their commercial advantage and (b) give an indication of the NOMS's contractual position regarding its level of contractual pricing in respect of consultancy rates which could detrimentally influence future commercial endeavours. In addition, the information provided applies to sensitive commercial information provided to NOMS by the contractors, a breach of which would be actionable.
Offenders: Suicide
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders committed suicide whilst accommodated in approved premises in each of the last 10 years. [267265]
Mr. Hanson: The following table shows the number of confirmed suicides of approved premises residents for each calendar year since 2000.
| Calendar year | Number of confirmed suicides |
Each death is tragic and regrettable, and the National Offender Management Service is committed to learning from cases of self-inflicted harm and death, to improve the care of offenders supervised in approved premises. Each approved premises is required to have a policy for the prevention of suicide and self-harm. In addition, each death in an approved premises is investigated by the Prisons and Probation ombudsman, and the ombudsman's reports and recommendations are carefully considered, to inform future policy development.
Performing Arts
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1217-18W, on performing arts, what the cost was to his Department of engaging (a) actors for each of the listed initiatives and (b) musicians for the 18-24 Electoral campaign in 2005-06. [267469]
Mr. Malik: The Ministry of Justice spent the following on engaging (a) actors for each of the listed initiatives and (b) musicians for the 18-24 Electoral campaign.
| £ | |
| n/a = Not available. Figures that are not available cannot be broken down from overall project costs and to do so would be disproportionate to cost. | |
Prisoners Release
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will set a timetable for the closure of the end-of-custody licence scheme. [267656]
Mr. Straw: As I stated in the House on 3 February I intend to withdraw the end of custody licence scheme (ECL) as soon as we have sufficient capacity within the prison system to do so.
Prisoners Release: Reoffenders
Mr. Grieve:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has paid any (a) compensation and (b) ex gratia payments to victims of
crimes committed by offenders on (i) end of custody licence, (ii) home detention curfew and (iii) release on temporary licence. [252837]
Mr. Straw: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) makes payments to innocent victims of violent crime where appropriate. In order to make a compensation payment, there needs to be evidence that an offence has occurred (through a police report) and in some instances evidence of the injury is required (medical report). CICA do not obtain information about the offender whose identity at the time of the claim in any event may not be known or where there has been no conviction.
Prison Service Order 7,500 authorises ex-gratia payments. There is no central record of such payments. The information requested could be found only at disproportionate cost.
Prisons: Drugs
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will require the inclusion of positive results for buprenorphine in prisons' mandatory drug testing reports; and if he will make a statement. [267216]
Mr. Hanson: Positive results for buprenorphine in prisons’ mandatory drug testing will be included in reported data from 1 April 2009.
The recording of positive tests for buprenorphine began on 1 April 2008. For comparative purposes, data, including and excluding positive tests for buprenorphine will be published for the 2008-09 financial year.
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