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5 May 2009 : Column 77W—continued
Young Offenders: Education
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Advisory Steering Group for the proposed young offenders academy; [272684]
(2) whether he plans to undertake public consultation on the proposal for a young offenders academy before the pilot project is given approval to begin procurement; and if he will make a statement; [272685]
(3) what assessment he has made of the compatibility of proposals for a young offenders academy with the Government's policy to make custody for children a last resort. [272686]
Mr. Hanson: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice, met with representatives of East Potential, the organisation proposing the academy, on 11 November 2008. Officials of the Youth Justice Board (YJB) have also met several times with East Potential representatives to consider the proposal.
The proposal is still at the development stage: it is too early to discuss the Government’s possible response to a more fully developed plan or how such a proposal would be considered.
Any proposals regarding the use of custody for young people who offend would be considered in the light of the Government’s overall approach to youth justice, including our clear statement that custody for young people under 18 should only be used as a last resort.
Youth Justice
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what factors he took into account in the decision to reduce the number of places contracted for custodial places in local authority secure children’s homes; and if he will make a statement. [270775]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
The secure children’s homes contract decisions followed a joint tendering exercise by the Youth Justice Board and the Department for Children Schools and Families. New contracts were offered to nine homes following a detailed evaluation, consisting of an assessment of the quality of the bids received and a financial assessment, based on the submitted prices. The required number of beds in each region, value for money, and overall affordability were factors in the decision-making process.
Duchy of Lancaster
10 Downing Street
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether people attending confidential meetings at 10 Downing street are required to enter through an entrance other than the main door. [271957]
Kevin Brennan: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on security matters.
10 Downing Street: Internet
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) with reference to the Answer of 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1229W, on departmental email, for how long the contact email form on the Downing Street website has been unavailable for public communication; and what effect this unavailability will have on his Department’s progress towards its strategic objective 4 in respect of avoidable contact; [258669]
(2) on what date the Downing Street website stopped offering a contact form for members of the public to email the Prime Minister; [271971]
(3) how many emails from members of the public 10 Downing Street has received in the last three months. [271973]
Mr. Watson: Enhancements have been made to the No. 10 e-mail facility and an updated version is now available. This is in addition to the other ways in which members of the public can interact with the Prime Minister, including: ePetitions; Ask the PM on the Downing Street YouTube site; Twitter; and, written correspondence.
10 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2009, Official Report, column 1350W, on 10 Downing Street: repairs and maintenance, which contractors were employed to undertake the works carried out in August and September 2008. [271943]
Kevin Brennan: The procurement of facilities services across the Cabinet Office estate is provided by the total facilities management provider for the Cabinet Office.
Charities
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Charity Commission’s monitoring of links between charities and extremism; and if he will make a statement. [271955]
Kevin Brennan: The Charity Commission takes a zero tolerance approach to links between charities and terrorism, and last year published a revised counter-terrorism strategy. I have asked the Charity Commission to write to set out its approach to this issue.
As the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, I have been asked to write in connection with your written Parliamentary Question on what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Charity Commission’s monitoring of links between charities and extremism. I thought it would be useful to set out our approach to this issue.
The Charity Commission has a specific monitoring unit to identify and monitor suspected and apparent abuse in charities, including fraud and financial abuse, risks to vulnerable beneficiaries and the risk of terrorist abuse. The Commission published its Counter-Terrorism Strategy in July 2008 which sets out the Commission’s strategic approach to dealing with the vulnerability of the charity sector to terrorism, including criminal extremism. This document is publicly available on our website, www.charitycommission.gov.uk, and I will arrange for a copy of this to be placed in the Library of the House.
Our Compliance Monitoring Unit liaises closely with a variety of agencies. Matters of criminality are for the police to lead on. The Unit is also responsible for conducting compliance visits to charities to carry out on-site inspections and proactively look into matters of concern. As of 31 March 2009 it had 236 proactive monitoring cases open and since the beginning of 2008 it had conducted 15 visits covering the full range of issues and concerns, some of which related to matters of possible criminality and extremism.
I hope this is helpful.
Charities: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with reference to his Department's press release of 8 April 2009, on campaigning charities, what restrictions will govern the use of the available funds for (a) political campaigning and (b) the promotion of political campaigns by charities. [271942]
Kevin Brennan: The Government want to promote the development of strong active and empowered communities. Organisations that represent the voices of their community and campaign for change are central to this. This role is particularly important in respect of groups that currently feel disadvantaged in decision-making processes.
All third sector organisations that participate in the innovative campaigning programme must adhere to the Charity Commission guidance on campaigning which can be found at
This guidance makes it clear that charities can engage in political campaigning in furtherance of their charitable objectives, but can not engage in party political campaigning.
Childbirth
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many babies (a) had a low birth weight and (b) were stillborn in each (i) ward and (ii) low layer super output area in England in the most recent year for which figures are available. [271807]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated April 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many babies (a) had a low birthweight and (b) were stillborn in each (i) ward and (ii) low layer super output area in England in the most recent year for which figures are available. (271807)
Information on low birthweight babies and stillbirths is not routinely published for wards and lower layer super output areas, in order to protect the privacy of individual mothers and babies.
Death Certificates
Anne Milton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many death certificates mentioning (1) thrombosis have been issued in each of the last five years; [271404]
(2) arteriosclerosis have been issued in each of the last five years; [271405]
(3) gout have been issued in each of the last five years; [271406]
(4) prostate cancer have been issued in each of the last five years; [271407]
(5) osteoarthritis have been issued in each of the last five years; [271408]
(6) sleep apnoea have been issued in each of the last five years; [271409]
(7) (a) type 1 diabetes and (b) type 2 diabetes have been issued in each of the last five years; [271410]
(8) high blood pressure have been issued in each of the last five years. [271411]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated April 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent questions asking:
(1) How many death certificates mentioning thrombosis have been issued in each of the last five years. (271404)
(2) How many death certificates mentioning arteriosclerosis have been issued in each of the last five years. (271405)
(3) How many death certificates mentioning gout have been issued in each of the last five years. (271406)
(4) How many death certificates mentioning prostate cancer have been issued in each of the last five years. (271407)
(5) How many death certificates mentioning osteoarthritis have been issued in each of the last five years. (271408)
(6) How many death certificates mentioning sleep apnoea have been issued in each of the last five years. (271409)
(7) How many death certificates mentioning (a) Type 1 diabetes and (b) Type 2 diabetes have been issued in each of the last five years. (271410)
(8) How many death certificates mentioning high blood pressure have been issued in each of the last five years. (271411)
Internationally accepted guidance from the World Health Organisation requires only those conditions that contributed directly to death to be recorded on the death certificate. Medical practitioners and coroners are not supposed to record all of the diseases or conditions present at or before death. Whether a condition contributed is a matter for their clinical judgement.
The table attached provides the number of deaths where the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes recorded indicate whether any of the following conditions were mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, either as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor, in England and Wales, for 2003 to 2007 (the latest year available).
(1) Thrombosis
(a) Myocardial infarction and coronary thrombosis
(b) Thrombotic Strokes
(c) Pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis
(d) Arterial embolism and thrombosis
(2) Arteriosclerosis
(a) Strokes specifying embolism, thrombosis or and narrowing or occlusion of arteries
(b) Other and unspecified strokes
(c) Ischaemic heart diseases
(d) Atherosclerosis
(3) Gout
(4) Prostate cancer
(5) Arthrosis (osteoarthritis)
(6) Sleep apnoea
(7) Diabetes
(a) Type I diabetes
(b) Type II diabetes
(c) Unspecified diabetes
8) Hypertensive diseases
It is not possible from death certificate data to separate thrombotic, embolic and atherosclerotic conditions affecting the arteries to the brain. Atherosclerosis of arteries in the neck and inside the skull can lead to strokes through thrombosis, embolism or sometimes haemorrhage. The table therefore includes a single category of deaths with mention of one or more ICD codes in the range that includes thrombotic, embolic and atherosclerotic cerebrovascular diseases. Pulmonary embolism and venous thrombosis have been combined, because when one is part of the sequence leading to death, the other nearly always is as well, whether it is mentioned on the certificate or not.
Arteriosclerosis can affect any artery in the body, including those supplying the brain, the heart and all other vital organs. Whether the term used is arteriosclerosis, coronary or ischaemic heart disease, the medical condition is virtually the same - lack of oxygenated blood (ischaemia) to the heart muscle because of atherosclerosis (narrowing and stiffening) of the coronary arteries. This clinical category is represented by the ICD-10 code range 120-125. The whole range has been used to count deaths with any mention of atherosclerotic/ischaemic/coronary heart disease in the attached table.
Type I and Type II diabetes are distinct clinical entities, which are easily identified and tabulated from death certificates using ICD codes. However, the type of diabetes is not always accurately recorded on the death certificate. Therefore, ICD codes have been used to tabulate death certificate mentions of diabetes specified as Type I or Type II, and also those where the type has not been specified.
When interpreting the data in these tables, it is important to be aware that many deaths will have more than one of the requested conditions mentioned. Thrombosis of the coronary arteries in the heart is one of the steps in a heart attack; thrombosis of cerebral arteries may cause a stroke. In both these cases, atherosclerotic narrowing of the arteries will usually have led to the thrombosis. Therefore, many deaths will be represented in more than one of the causes listed.
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