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16 Jun 2009 : Column 251W—continued
Land Registration Fees
18. Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what impact assessment he undertook on the increase in land registration fees which will be effective from 6 July 2009. [279683]
Mr. Wills: The Land Registration Fee Order 2009 was made following consultation with the Land Registration Rule Committee, which includes representatives from the legal professions, mortgage lenders, conveyancers, surveyors and consumer affairs. However, in keeping with previous practice in relation to the nine fee orders since 1993, of which eight reduced the level of fees, no formal impact assessment was undertaken and the periodic adjustment of fee levels is expected by businesses in this sector.
Young Offenders: Reoffending Rates
19. James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department has taken to reduce reoffending rates of young offenders in the last 12 months. [279684]
Maria Eagle: The latest statistics show a 23.6 per cent. reduction in the frequency rate of juvenile reoffending between 2000 and 2007. The Government’s approach to reducing reoffending is detailed in the Youth Crime Action Plan, published last summer. This sets out the triple-track approach of enforcement, non-negotiable support and prevention.
Dedicated Drug Courts
20. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress has been made on the establishment of dedicated drug courts; and if he will make a statement. [279686]
Bridget Prentice: Following the positive indications from the evaluation of the first two pilot sites, an additional four dedicated drug court pilots commenced sitting early this year in Barnsley, Bristol, Cardiff and Salford magistrates courts. We will evaluate how the model operates at these six sites before making any decision on implementation.
Constitutional Renewal Bill
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what his Department’s planned timetable is for the Constitutional Renewal Bill. [279674]
Mr. Wills: We anticipate that a Bill based on the Government’s Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill will be introduced before the summer recess for carry-over into the next parliamentary session.
In addition the Government intend to bring forward a Bill to create an Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority before the House rises for the summer.
Adoption: Children
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions the Official Solicitor has been used by local authorities to progress the removal and adoption of a child from its birth family; and if he will make a statement. [279274]
Bridget Prentice: The Official Solicitor is not used by local authorities in the way suggested. The Official Solicitor is an independent statutory office holder whose duties, when acting as a litigation friend, are to his client and not to any other party, be it local authority or the child who is the subject of proceedings.
The function and purpose of his office is to represent a person who lacks capacity to conduct proceedings, in civil and family cases, and proceedings in the Court of Protection, across England and Wales, where, either there is no other suitable person willing and able to act, or for some other reason, failure to do so would result in an injustice. The Official Solicitor usually becomes involved in existing proceedings because he is invited to do so by the court.
Ashwell Prison
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish the report of the investigation into the riot at HM Prison Ashwell in April 2009. [279810]
Maria Eagle: As my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr. Hanson), the former Minister for Prisons, said in his written ministerial statement to the House on 20 April 2009, Official Report, columns 2-3WS, we will make the findings of the investigation and our conclusions on it available to the House in due course.
Demos
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department has any contracts with the think-tank Demos. [279497]
Claire Ward: The Ministry of Justice has no contracts with the think-tank Demos.
Female: Offenders
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assistance his Department provides to (a) young, (b) elderly and (c) female offenders in Coventry. [280194]
Maria Eagle: Offenders subject to probation supervision are assessed at the commencement of their order and throughout their sentence. They may have particular offence-related problems connected with their age or gender, and will sometimes receive specialist provision to take account of these where this will reduce their risk of re-offending and the risk of harm they pose to the public.
West Midlands Probation Area delivers particular services for female offenders, including an Approved Premise, an accredited programme for women only, and, for women who are victims of domestic abuse, women safety workers and access to domestic abuse officers. Locally, the Coventry team has close partnerships with a number of other agencies who work with females, including offenders.
Coventry's Youth Offending Team provides services specifically to young offenders aged under 18, and as a multi-agency team comprising staff from probation, social services, health, education and police, it is able to provide services to address the factors linked to young offenders' re-offending.
HM Courts Service
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) directors, (b) senior managers, (c) specialist and delivery managers and (d) executive support and administration staff there were in each HM Courts Service office in each of the last five years. [279290]
Bridget Prentice: A breakdown of the number of SCS and non-SCS staff (full-time equivalent) in each HM Court Service office in the last two years (as at 31 March 2008 and 2009) will be placed in the Library of the House. A new pay deal was introduced in August 2007 that unified a set of terms and conditions across the Ministry.
With the creation of HM Courts Service in 2005 MOJ inherited all unaligned legacy terms and conditions for magistrates, crown and county courts including the pay scales which were not renegotiated until the 2007 pay deal.
To break these down into the requested categories at court level would incur disproportionate cost.
Land Registry
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the Land Registration Rules Committee which has taken place in the last 12 months. [279904]
Mr. Wills: There has not been a meeting of the Land Registration Rule Committee during the past 12 months. The only matter requiring the consideration of the Rule Committee during this period was dealt with through correspondence.
Land Titles
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what protection against development is conferred by land titles. [280399]
Mr. Wills: Registration of title to land under the Land Registration Act 2002 does not, of itself, confer protection against development. It does, however, provide protection in other ways. For example, it gives greater security against the possibility of ownership being lost by adverse possession, or squatting as it is more commonly known.
Members
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the merits of a system for voters to recall hon. Members. [279666]
Mr. Wills: In his statement to the House on 10 June, the Prime Minister confirmed that there will be consultation with all parties regarding new proposals for dealing effectively with inappropriate behaviour, including potentially the options of effective exclusion and recall for gross financial misconduct identified by the new Parliamentary Standards Authority and the House itself.
Offensive Weapons: Dyfed Powys Police
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted of possession of a knife in (a) Dyfed Powys police force area and (b) Wales in each of the last 10 years. [279453]
Claire Ward: Information showing the number of persons found guilty at all courts for having an article with a blade or point in a public place and on school premises in Dyfed Powys police force area and Wales from 1998 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table. Data for 2008 will be available in November 2009.
Prison Accommodation
Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many adult male sentenced prisoners are held in category (a) A, (b) B, (c) C and (d) D prisons in England and Wales; [278701]
(2) what the average prison population as a proportion of the in-use certified normal accommodation in category (a) A, (b) B, (c) C and (d) D prisons in England and Wales was on the most recent date for which figures are available. [278702]
Maria Eagle: The following table shows the numbers of adult males serving sentences in prison establishments as at 30 April 2009 by category of prison:
The Security categories A, B, C, and D relate to categories of adult male prisoner. Female prisoners and young offenders are not categorised in this way.
The following table shows the numbers of prisoners in the categories of prison set out above, compared with the numbers in the certified normal accommodation:
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