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12 May 2009 : Column 735W—continued
Life Imprisonment
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners serving whole life tariffs are held in each Category A prison. [273817]
Mr. Hanson: The break-down for prisoners on whole life tariffs in high security prisons is as follows:
| High security prison | Number of prisoners |
| (1 )We have withheld exact numbers because to provide the information at this level could identify individuals. | |
Life Imprisonment: Females
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many female prisoners are serving life sentences with a whole life tariff. [273819]
Mr. Hanson: Fewer than five(1) female prisoners are currently serving a life sentence with a whole life tariff.
(1 )We have withheld exact numbers because to provide the information at this level could identify individuals.
Life Imprisonment: Mentally Disturbed Offenders
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners sentenced to whole life tariffs are held in secure NHS premises. [273818]
Mr. Hanson: Fewer than five(1) prisoners sentenced to whole life tariffs are currently detained in secure hospitals.
(1 )We have withheld exact numbers because to provide the information at this level could identify individuals.
National Offender Management Service
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff (a) employed in and (b) seconded to the Interventions and Substance Abuse Group of the National Offender Management Service have previously worked for (i) the probation service and (ii) the Prison Service. [273536]
Mr. Hanson: Of staff currently in post in the National Offender Management Service’s Interventions and Substance Misuse Group (ISMG):
(i) 15 have a national probation service background;
(ii) 125 have a HM Prison Service background; and
(iii) Seven have previously worked in both HM Prison Service and the national probation service.
Nine current ISMG staff are seconded from the national probation service.
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for how many hours per week on average high security prisoners have been confined to their cells (a) in the latest period for which figures are available and (b) over a similar period immediately before the introduction of core day standardisation. [273797]
Mr. Hanson: Prisoners in the High Security Estate are locked in their cells for an average of 109 hours a week. Prior to the introduction of the Standard Core Day prisoners were locked in their cells for an average of 107 hours a week. After the introduction of the Standard Core Day across the Prison Service prisoners in the High Security Estate spend an extra two hours a week, or 1 per cent. of their time, locked up.
The Prison Service has looked carefully at how it can make efficiencies in the operation of prisons to support the Department’s efficiency plans. The standardisation of the core day delivers efficiencies, improves consistency of regime delivery across the affected establishments and helps to maximise the access prisoners have to activities when they are running without compromising the running of safe, decent and secure establishments.
Prison Sentences
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) men and (b) women aged (i) under 18 years, (ii) 18 to 20 years and (iii) 21 years and over were serving indeterminate sentences for public protection on the latest date for which figures are available. [271975]
Mr. Hanson: The following table gives the numbers of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection on 24 April 2009. The table includes those subject to imprisonment for public protection (IPP) and young prisoners subject to detention for public protection (DPP). The table also includes the 104 offenders of this type who are located in a secure psychiatric hospital.
| Serving IPPs and DPPs on 24 April 2009 | |||
| Age range | (a) Men | (b) Women | Subtotals |
| (1 )We have withheld exact numbers because to provide the information at this level could identify individuals. | |||
These figures were drawn from the NOMS IPP database. The database is updated every other month, based on data provided by establishments. As with any large scale recording system, the database is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Changes introduced by the CJIA 2008 included a minimum tariff of two years below which IPPs cannot be given, except where offenders have committed extremely serious crimes in the past.
These changes will ensure better use of the all the sentences available to the courts.
In January 2008, a new streamlined process was introduced for assessing and managing IPP offenders through the implementation of offender management for IPPs. The new process will ensure that appropriate sentence plans are drawn up and implemented for offenders, without undermining public protection.
Prison Sentences: Swine Flu
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) whether he has made an assessment of the potential effects of the outbreak of swine influenza on (a) levels of sentencing to custody by magistrates courts and Crown courts and (b) the safe management of adult prisons, young offender institutions and secure training centres; [274325]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect of the outbreak of swine influenza on the provision of healthcare in (a) adult prisons, (b) young offender institutions and (c) secure training centres. [273824]
Mr. Straw: Contingency planning for coping with the effects of a flu pandemic on the justice system including prisons and places of detention, has been underway for several years. Sentencing will continue to be a matter for judges taking account of individual circumstances and sentencing guidelines.
Protecting the public and ensuring the smooth running of the justice system is paramount and every effort would be made to ensure those who pose a risk continue to be appropriately dealt with.
In 2006, all prisons were instructed, through Prison Service Instruction PSI (29/2006), to develop contingencies plans in the event of pandemic influenza. Prison senior clinical staff were to be involved at all stages of planning. The plans were to be signed off as fit for purpose by area managers. The governor was required to establish links with the local health protection unit (HPU) and
the primary care trust (PCT) to finalise arrangements for antiviral access and infection control management, and to adapt local community policies to a prison setting.
At the outset of this swine flu outbreak governors were reminded to review these plans and ensure they are up to date and capable of being acted on if the situation calls for it. This is to be done in consultation with local primary care trusts and in line with the current PSI.
A revised version of the Prison Service Instruction is currently in draft. It provides further advice on key areas including infection control, UK pandemic phases, detail on key issues to be covered in contingency plans including supply lines and participation in local resilience fora, along with advice on human resources matters.
Prisons: Education
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on prisoner re-education in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [273840]
Mr. Hanson: In terms of money spent on education and training in prisons for those two years, £156 million was spent in financial year 2006-07 and £168 million was spent in financial year 2007-08, funded from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills via provider contracts commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council. Spending on offender learning, commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council, now stands at over £175 million (2008-09 financial year), for juvenile, young and adult offenders—almost a threefold increase since 2001.
The Learning and Skills Council also spent a further £30 million in European Social Funding for the two calendar years 2006 and 2007, and established a £13.9 million budget from EQUAL funding for the period December 2006 to March 2008 to meet additional provision for offenders both in custody and in the community.
In addition training for prisoners is undertaken, mainly by Prison Service staff, whilst prisoners work or are engaged in various areas such as prison industries, catering, physical education, land based activities, industrial cleaning and laundries. The central costs of the training elements of these, mainly production functions, are not kept centrally.
Probation: Wales
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many probation posts are planned for (a) Dyfed Powys, (b) Gwent, (c) North Wales and (d) South Wales probation areas in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11 and (iii) 2011-12. [273755]
Mr. Hanson: It is not yet possible to predict final figures for 2009-10. As no final decisions have been taken on budgets for subsequent years, it is also not possible to provide accurate staffing projections for 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Responsibility for resourcing levels ultimately lies with each probation board or trust as they are the employers of probation staff. It is for them to take the action necessary at a local level to ensure they can deliver the required service within available resources.
Defence
Afghanistan and Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK service personnel serving in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq are residents of (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) the Republic of Ireland. [272893]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: Data on the residential location of armed forces personnel are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel from each of the armed forces are serving in Afghanistan. [273000]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: The number of UK service personnel in Afghanistan fluctuates on a daily basis but there are currently approximately 8,300 UK service personnel serving in Afghanistan. Due to the current deployment of 19 Light Brigade approximately 80 per cent. of these personnel are from the Army and approximately 10 per cent. each from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force respectively.
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward plans to improve liaison between his Department and the Department for International Development on reconstruction in Afghanistan. [273672]
Mr. Hutton
[holding answer 8 May 2009]: Ministers and Officials from the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development (DFID), and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) meet regularly to discuss the UK's policy in Afghanistan. This cooperation
is replicated on the ground by the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team which integrates the efforts of DFID, the FCO and the military Task Force Commander, with international partners, in a comprehensive approach to security, reconstruction and development.
Armed Forces: Coroners
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the outcome of his Department's challenge was to the inquest verdict in the case of Ronald George Maddison which the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State announced in the written ministerial statement of 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 168WS; and if he will make a statement. [274726]
Mr. Kevan Jones: The Judicial Review was scheduled to take place on 13 February 2006 in the High Court. However before the hearing was due to commence, Counsel representing the Maddison family offered a possible resolution of the issues to be addressed, which the Ministry of Defence found acceptable. The presiding judges, set to hear the Judicial Review, endorsed the terms of the agreement. This therefore concluded matters.
Armed Forces: Housing
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of (a) service family accommodation and (b) service single living accommodation for armed forces personnel in Scotland; and if he will make a statement; [274595]
(2) how many and what percentage of (a) service family accommodation and (b) service single living accommodation properties in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland there were in each grade in each of the last five years. [274593]
Mr. Kevan Jones: UK service family accommodation was at the following standard for condition (SfC) in each of the last five years.
| April 2004 | April 2005 | April 2006 | April 2007 | July 2008 | ||||||
| Properties | Percentage | Properties | Percentage | Properties | Percentage | Properties | Percentage | Properties | Percentage | |
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