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21 Apr 2009 : Column 623W—continued
Prisoners Release
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many early releases under the End of Custody Licence release scheme there have been from each prison in each month since the scheme came into effect, broken down by original offence; and if he will make a statement. [269764]
Mr. Straw: Information on the number of prisoners released under the End of Custody Licence (ECL) scheme each month by (a) prison establishment, and separately (b) offence group have been placed in the House Library. To produce a table that showed a combined breakdown of the number of ECL releases each month by offence group in each prison establishment would incur disproportionate cost.
The figures presented in the answer are published monthly and available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
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.
Prisoners: Solitary Confinement
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have been held in solitary confinement for over one year; and if he will make a statement. [268610]
Mr. Hanson: Prisoners are never subject to solitary confinement. They are placed in segregation where they are provided with a regime which allows access to education, exercise, and where appropriate association. Information about the numbers of prisoners segregated for more than a year is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The segregation of prisoners is subject to specified safeguards. These include an assessment by medical staff of whether any mental health, other healthcare or self harm issues might advise against segregation. A prisoner at risk of self harm will be segregated only in exceptional circumstances and if possible, will be located in a safer cell. Prisoners in segregation are visited each day by medical staff and regularly by members of the Independent Monitoring Board. Continued segregation for three months or more is subject to regular assessment and monitoring by the Governor and area manager. The aim is always to return the prisoner to normal location as soon as possible.
Prisoners: Zimbabwe
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Zimbabwean nationals are being held in prison. [269492]
Mr. Hanson: At the end of December 2008, there were 208 Zimbabwean prisoners held in prison establishments in England and Wales. This includes those being held on remand and those serving sentences. This information can be found in the following Ministry of Justice website at:
where the information on foreign national prisoners is updated quarterly.
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
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish his response to the consultation on Titan prisons. [268771]
Mr. Hanson: The consultation on the new prisons, formerly known as ‘Titans’, closed at the end of August 2008.
We are grateful to all those who have contributed to the consultation process and we will publish our response shortly.
Prisons: Mobile Phones
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which prisons host mobile telephone masts. [269067]
Mr. Hanson: Telephone/radio masts are sited on prison property at Acklington, Deerbolt, Doncaster (privately operated), Grendon/Springhill, Nottingham, Ranby, Stocken, Wellingborough and Woodhill. Masts at Acklington, Grendon/Springhill and Woodhill are used by the emergency services, mainly the police.
Probation
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many probation areas provide unpaid work assignments for offenders in the evening. [268775]
Mr. Straw: Community Payback (unpaid work) operates seven days a week with weekend projects in all probation areas. Evening Community Payback schemes are not always practical or cost effective given the types of work involved. However, 15 probation areas report that indoor Community Payback work placements are operated in the evenings.
Offenders sentenced to Community Payback forfeit their free time to do tough demanding work which benefits the community. In this way they make reparation to the community for their crimes.
Last year (2007-08) 55,771 people successfully completed Community Payback sentences. This amounts to over 6 million hours of free labour, which was used to benefit the community.
Projects have included removing graffiti, bringing derelict areas and buildings back into public use, clearing church yards, country streams and unused allotments, repairing park benches and playground equipment. A lot of work is undertaken on environmental projects and also with schools, community centres, with faith groups and local authorities. It would not be practical or cost effective to undertake many of these tasks during the evening.
Probation Service: Manpower
Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in each cohort are in training to enter the probation service; and how many posts in the service he estimates will be available for newly qualified people from each cohort. [269082]
Mr. Straw: There are two cohorts of trainee probation officers currently in training. Cohort 10 numbers 513 and Cohort 11 numbers 305. The majority of cohort 10 will qualify in September this year. It is too early to predict the numbers who will be offered employment.
Probation training is currently subject to a major review, so that in future trainees will be offered jobs at the start of the training, not at the end.
Reoffenders
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the local (a) adult and (b) juvenile reoffending rate was in each (i) London borough and (ii) upper tier local authority in the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [264643]
Mr. Hanson: The published national statistics on adult and juvenile reoffending are not broken down by area.
Published data on local adult reoffending in all upper tier local authorities in England and Wales (including all London boroughs) are available at:
These data include all offenders on the probation caseload and cover reoffending over the period 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008.
Reoffending of juveniles at the local level is measured on a different basis to adults at the local level. The areas used are not coterminous with local authorities.
Sentencing: Foreigners
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign nationals (1) were (a) convicted of and (b) sentenced to immediate custody for (i) drug dealing and (ii) firearms offences in 2007; [269255]
(2) are serving custodial sentences for (a) drug dealing and (b) firearms offences. [269256]
Mr. Hanson: The information requested is not available as court proceedings held by the Ministry of Justice do not record offender’s nationality.
It is not possible to separately identify the number serving sentences for drug dealing and firearms offences as the data held centrally is not accurately recorded to this level of detail.
Theft: Convictions
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for (a) shoplifting, (b) robbery of business property and (c) theft by an employee there were in the quarter between July and September in (i) 2003, (ii) 2004, (iii) 2005, (iv) 2006, (v) 2007 and (vi) 2008. [268822]
Mr. Straw: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for burglary in a building other than a dwelling, robbery, stealing by an employee and stealing from shops and stalls (shoplifting) in the quarter July to September in England and Wales for the years 2003 to 2007 is shown in the table.
Court proceedings data cannot separately identify cases of robbery which relate to robbery of business property and those which relate to other types of property. This level of detail is not held by the Ministry of Justice.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two
or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Court proceedings data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Vandalism: Convictions
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for offences relating to acts of vandalism in (i) West Chelmsford constituency, (ii) Essex and (iii) England in each year since 2000. [269097]
Maria Eagle: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences of criminal damage, including acts of vandalism, in the Essex police force area and England from 2000-07 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
Court proceedings data held by the Ministry of Justice do not enable offences involving vandalism to be separately identified from other acts of "criminal damage."
Data are given in the table for Essex police force area. It is not possible to further break down data to constituency level (i.e. West Chelmsford) as this level of detail is not held centrally.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
| N umber of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts of criminal damage( 1) , in Essex and England, 2000 - 07( 2)( , )( 3) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) The offence of vandalism cannot be separated from other criminal damage offences. (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. These data are included in the figures given for England. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Evidence and Analysis Unit. | ||
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