| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
28 Apr 2009 : Column 1261W—continued
Prisons: Telephone Services
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take account of the steps taken by Ofcom in response to the super-complaint from the National Consumer Council on charges for payphone services from prisons in the tendering process for the next contract for the provision of payphone services to prisoners. [270907]
Mr. Hanson: The current contract for the prisoner telephone system runs to 2011. In the re-tendering process to provide the telephone system after the current contract ends, the aim will be to provide a safe and secure system balanced with the need for reasonably priced calls for prisoners.
We acknowledge the importance of prisoners keeping in touch with their family and positive influences, and seeking a reduction in the cost of calls will be a key feature in the re-tendering exercise. This must, however, be balanced with the need to provide a safe and secure system to prevent misuse of telephones by prisoners.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will commission research on the effect on trends in re-offending following release of the access by prisoners to telephone services in prisons; and if he will make a statement. [270917]
Mr. Hanson: There are no plans to commission research as suggested. There has been no loss of access by prisoners to telephones within the prison system. Using pin technology the current contract to provide prisoners with telephone access was awarded to the supplier in 1998 and this service has been widely available since 2001. Before using the system prisoners are required to sign a compact agreeing to the terms and conditions of use. Providing a prisoner signs this compact s/he will have access to the prisoner telephone or pinphone system and there are no plans to change this.
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will commission research on the effects on the illegal use of mobile telephones within prisons of charges to prisoners for the use of prison payphones; and if he will make a statement. [270918]
Mr. Hanson: There are currently no plans to commission research on the effect of telephone charges on the use of mobile phones in prisons.
The cost of telephone calls is determined under the terms of a national contract which is in place until 2011; however, we have recently reached an agreement with the supplier for some reduction to the cost of national and mobile calls which came into effect on 1 April 2009. To impose a reduction to the costs of calls without the supplier's agreement would require a large subsidy from the taxpayer.
We are implementing a strategy to minimise the number of phones entering prisons, and to find or disrupt those that do enter. As part of the strategy, prisons are being provided with technologies to strengthen local security and searching strategies, in line with the recommendations in David Blakey's report Disrupting the Supply of Illicit Drugs into Prisons, published in July 2008. This includes the roll out of “BOSS” chairs to all prisons, and the deployment of other detection and disruption technologies.
We have also strengthened the law, through the Offender Management Act 2007 (implemented in April 2008), which makes it a criminal offence with a punishment of up to two years' imprisonment to bring an unauthorised mobile phone or component part into a prison.
Reoffenders: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people were charged with offences whilst under the supervision of the probation services in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in the last (i) six months, (ii) year and (iii) five years; [262883]
(2) how many offenders re-offended while on probation in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in the last five years. [263060]
Mr. Hanson: The number of offenders that were charged with offences while being supervised by the probation service is not available. This is because the extract of the police national computer held by the Ministry of Justice does not provide comprehensive coverage of charges. Data relating to the offending of offenders under probation supervision are based on proven reoffending—offences which have led to a conviction or a caution.
The measure of reoffending used to provide National Statistics for England and Wales is not broken down by area. However, newly published data on local adult reoffending (a different measure of reoffending to the national statistics) are broken down by probation area and local authority (upper tier only).
Because the data are not broken down below the upper tier of the local authority area level there are no figures available for Hemel Hempstead.
The number of offenders used to calculate the local reoffending rate for the Hertfordshire probation area between 1 October 2007 and 30 September 2008 is 10,229 and the reoffending rate is 7.93 per cent.
The local measure measures the reoffending of all offenders on the probation caseload, aged 18 or over, at
a certain point in time (a “snapshot”), while the national measure covers all offenders commencing a court order under probation supervision or released from custody during the first quarter of the year. Additionally, the local measure allows a three month period for reoffences to be committed, while the national measure allows a year.
The local reoffending figures are produced by aggregating the data of four snapshots of the probation caseload. Therefore the number of offenders quoted above is approximately four times the number of offenders on the case load at any one time.
A reoffending rate of 7.93 per cent. with a case load size of 10,229 does not mean that 811 different offenders committed a reoffence, as some offenders may have appeared in more than one cohort and reoffended more than once.
It should be noted the probation supervision of some offenders may end during the period while their reoffending is being monitored. Therefore some reoffences may be committed after probation supervision has finished.
For further details please see “Local reoffending results 1 October 2007-30 September 2008 England and Wales” available at:
This is the first time that reoffending data at the local level have been made available.
Theft: Lorries
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions there were for the theft of a heavy goods vehicle in each of the last five years. [270932]
Maria Eagle: Information held on the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database cannot separately identify the number of convictions for the offence “theft of a motor vehicle” which relate to a heavy goods vehicle.
Youth Justice
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) remands in custody for under 18 year olds and (b) court-ordered secure remands were for a period of seven days or less in the last year for which figures are available. [270777]
Mr. Hanson: During the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009, 671 young people under 18 were remanded in custody for a period of seven days or less; and 173 were remanded for a period of seven days or less to the care of a local authority with a requirement that they be accommodated in secure conditions. This information has been supplied by the Youth Justice Board and is drawn from administrative computer systems.
We believe that young people should only be sent to custody as a last resort. The decision on whether to grant bail or remand a defendant in custody is one for the courts to make, in each case, in line with the statutory framework primarily set out in the Bail Act 1976.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Building Colleges for the Future Programme
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 656W, on further education: finance, from which further education colleges he has received representations on the Learning and Skills Council's list of colleges affected by changes to its capital spending programme. [269823]
Mr. Simon: I have met and had correspondence with a large number of MPs and college principals and I will be continuing this dialogue. The nature of the contact to date has been to discuss individual concerns rather than specifically regarding the Learning and Skills Council's list of colleges affected by changes to its capital spending programme.
We are aware that there are other colleges that will be at various stages of preparing their capital proposals. The response from the LSC in connection with the earlier question makes clear that some smaller projects were not included as they did not require national approval. Some colleges are also still submitting applications for approval in principle so the list will be subject to change.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what discussions he has had with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on representations made by further education colleges to the LSC on (a) the completeness and (b) the accuracy of the LSC's list of colleges affected by changes to the LSC's capital spending programme. [269824]
Mr. Simon: I continue to have regular dialogue with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), as we consider how best to move forward with the further education capital investment programme.
I have not had any specific discussions with the LSC on representations made by further education colleges on either the completeness nor on the accuracy of the LSC's list of colleges affected by changes to the LSC's capital spending programme.
We are aware that there are other colleges that will be at various stages of preparing their capital proposals. The response from the LSC in connection with the earlier question makes clear that some smaller projects were not included as they did not require national approval. Some colleges are also still submitting applications for approval in principle so the list will be subject to change.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which Minister in his Department had responsibility for the further education capital programme in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [269954]
Mr. Simon: Ministers are responsible for determining and monitoring the implementation of broad policy and to hold the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to account for delegated responsibilities. Effective implementation is the role of the LSC.
My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell) was Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education up until October 2008, during which time the further education capital programme was within his remit. When my hon. Friend left the Department in October, in my role as Under-Secretary, I took over in leading on the further education capital programme.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the sum to be allocated by his Department to new college buildings in each of the next six financial years. [271800]
Mr. Simon: Budget 2009 announced additional capital funding of £300 million for this spending review period (2009-10 and 10-11), which will allow the Learning and Skills Council to give approval to a limited number of projects starting in 2009-10.
Recognising the long-term nature of capital projects, the Government are planning a continuing FE capital investment programme in future years, with a planning assumption of £300 million a year from 2011-12 to 2013-14 to be confirmed at the next spending review.
This provides a provisional £1.2 billion in total to 2013-14 which should allow us to develop around £750 million of new schemes.
Further Education: Mergers
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many further education colleges have merged in each year since 1997. [268679]
Mr. Simon: The table sets out all further education colleges merged since May 1997.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |