| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Jun 2009 : Column 399W—continued
These figures do not include capital spending by local authorities or costs incurred by police forces, for which no data are available.
Coroners: South West
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the resources available to coroners' offices in the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority area. [280268]
Bridget Prentice: The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for the coroner service and does not undertake assessments of resources available to coroners. This is a matter for individual coroners to negotiate with their local and police authorities.
Nevertheless discussions are taking place in Devon and Cornwall including for example with Her Majesty’s Court Service (HMCS) over the possibility of using court facilities.
Crime Prevention: Finance
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of his Department's funding was allocated to the Children's Fund for youth crime prevention in the last 12 month period for which information is available. [279227]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
Up to 2005-06 there was a requirement for Children's Fund Partnerships to allocate 25 per cent. of their expenditure to youth crime projects. The total funding for the Children's Fund for the period 2005-06 was £146 million. Therefore, £36.5 million of these funds were allocated to youth crime prevention. In 2006-07 the requirement of the 25 per cent. quota was discontinued. Since April 2008 funding has been distributed to local authorities and pooled with other funding via the Area Based Grant. Directing funding through local authorities gives local areas the freedom and flexibility to base spending decisions on local circumstances and the needs of local communities.
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions under section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 have been sought in each of the last 10 years; and how many such prosecutions were successful. [280258]
Claire Ward: The number of defendants who were proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offence of ‘Depositing litter’ under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 sec.87, in England and Wales, 1998 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the table.
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.
| Number of defendants who were proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the offence of ‘Depositing litter’ under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 sec. 87, England and Wales, 1998 to 2007( 1,)( )( 2) | ||
| Proceeded against | Found guilty | |
| (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it 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. (2) 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. (3) Staffordshire police force were able to submit only sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. Source: OCJR—E and A: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit, Ministry of Justice | ||
HM Courts Service: Consultants
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much HM Courts Service spent on consultants in each of the last five years. [280342]
Bridget Prentice: HMCS came into existence in April 2005 and therefore figures prior to this date are not available.
| Consultancy spend full year | HMCS (£ million) |
Data for April 2008 to March 2009 are currently unavailable. A manual data collection exercise for this period is scheduled to commence in the summer of 2009 with a target date for the availability of the data set of 31 October 2009.
Parole Board
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many cases the Parole Board considered in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; [279233]
(2) how many and what proportion of offenders were granted oral hearings by the Parole Board in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; [279234]
(3) how many of the offenders who were granted oral hearings by the Parole Board were subsequently granted parole in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [279235]
Mr. Straw: In 2007-08 the Parole Board considered a total of 31,172 cases. Approximately 8 per cent. were considered by oral hearing, which equates to 2,072 three-member hearings and 459 one-member hearings. Of those a total of 16 per cent. of offenders were recommended for release.
In 2008-09 the Parole Board considered a total of 28,596 cases. Approximately 10 per cent. were considered by oral hearing, which equates to 2,335 three-member hearings and 422 one-member hearings. Of those a total of 16 per cent. of offenders were recommended for release.
Prisoners Release
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were granted compassionate release in each of the last five years. [279880]
Mr. Straw: The numbers of prisoners who were granted permanent early release on compassionate grounds in each of the last five years is shown in the following tables. The data are split between prisoners serving fixed-term sentences (where the data are collected by calendar year) and those serving indeterminate sentences (where the data are collected by financial year).
| Determinate sentenced prisoners | |
| Fixed-term prisoners | |
| Indeterminate sentenced prisoners | |
| Number | |
These figures have been drawn from internal records and the Public Protection Unit Database in the National Offender Management Service. As with any large scale recording systems, they are subject to possible errors with data migration and processing.
Restorative Justice
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) community and (b) custody caseload of the probation service was in March in each of the last five financial years. [279238]
Mr. Straw: The total community and pre-release custodial offender caseload for England and Wales as at 31 March in each of the last five years was as follows:
| Supervised in community( 1) | Supervised in custody | |
| (1) Includes those supervised on court orders as well as post-release supervision. | ||
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.
Young Offenders: Crimes of Violence
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) how many people under 21 years old who were convicted of (a) grievous bodily harm and (b) violent disorder under the provisions of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 served less than (i) 12 months and (ii) 18 months in custody in the last three years; [278926]
(2) how many people under 18 years old who were convicted of (a) grievous bodily harm and (b) violent disorder under the provisions of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 served less than (i) 12 months and (ii) 18 months in custody in the last three years. [278927]
Maria Eagle: The data provided show the number of offenders aged under 18 and between 18 and 20 sentenced to immediate custody and the length of the custodial sentence, in England and Wales. The data are for the offences of grievous bodily harm or violent disorder where such an offence was the principal offence for which the offender was sentenced. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed, where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Almost all custodial sentences for offenders under 21 are defined under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced indeterminate sentences for public protection for grievous bodily harm and violent disorder from 4 April 2005, which are also included in the tables.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |